It was a Tuesday night time machine at TD Place as four iconic 80s era bands shared the stage for a night of nostalgic feel good hits from Spoons, Men Without Hats, A Flock of Seagulls, and Honeymoon Suite.
As a kid who grew up in the 80s in Canada, this show ticked all the boxes for me, and I’d only managed to see Honeymoon Suite before this night.
Spoons started the night out, with a compact set of their well known hits such as “Romantic Traffic,” “Nova Heart,” and “Tell No Lies.” Hearing these songs gave me goosebumps as I thought back to my childhood of watching their videos on MuchMusic.
Next up was Men Without Hats, who delivered a high-energy set of their classics, such as “Pop Goes The World” and “I Like,” and their set was bookended by two different versions of “The Safety Dance,” with singer Ivan Doroschuk joking that the second version was for the people who got there late. Doroschuk did not stop moving the entire time, playing off of the energy of the max-capacity crowd at TD Place. Our own Stephane Dubord interviewed Doroschuk in advance of the Ottawa tour stop.
A Flock of Seagulls were third on the bill, and like the others, pleased the audience with a tight set of their most well-known material, as well as a new song, “Him,” which will be the first single on their upcoming new album. They ended their set with the most memorable song, “I Ran,” which was one of the most memorable songs of the 80s on both the airwaves and video screens.
Last, but certainly not least, were Canadian rock icons Honeymoon Suite. Known for a string of hits in the 80s, the band has continued to put out new music and tour regularly. The band fired up the crowd with the instantly identifiable “Burning in Love,” and tore through a set of familiar favourites like “Wave Babies,” “Stay in the Light,” and “New Girl Now,” with a keyboard solo, guitar solo, and drum solo section thrown in, for good measure.
For those who lived the 80s, it was an excellent bang-for-your-buck experience, with a whole lot of music for the price of admission.
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