My music awakening was during the 1980’s and I flitted between the SKA sounds of bands like ‘The Specials’, ‘The Beat’ and ‘Madness’ to the New Romantic sounds of bands like ‘Spandau Ballet’ and ‘Duran Duran’ to even a bit of‘Adam and the Ants’ (yes I did just admit to that) to of course New Wave sounds like ‘The Human League’ and I even liked a bit of Stock Aitken and Waterman pop like ‘Bananarama’.
So when I heard that Phil Oakey was heading to Marbella with ‘The Human League’ and ‘Bananarama’ (now a pop duo) were also on the bill, I headed down to the garage to dig out those ‘Now That What I Call Music – 80’s’ collections.
Fresh from feeling like a teenager again (actually I have never stopped) I charged up the camera, grabbed hold of Talk Radio Europe’s Hannah Murray (who was dressed up in fluorescent pink top and legwarmers) and headed off to one of my favourite venues for concerts, the tennis courts at the Hotel Puente Romano.
Outside we met up with the rest of the Talk Radio Europe 80’s fans Bill Padley, Selina MacKenzie, Rob Humphries, Dave Hodgson and their respective other halves and had a drink or two, before heading on in to enjoy the concert.
First up were ‘Bananarama’ and they sang ALL their hits (which to be fair was not a massive amount), but they really knew how to play the crowd. They got everyone up dancing and even dragged a few fans on stage to have a boogie and sing song with them.
Most people welcomed the interval so they could catch their breath before ‘The Human League’ came out to rapturous applause as they started with their hit ‘Mirror Man’. Again they sang all their major hits including number one smash ‘Don’t you want me’, and from a singing perspective, they totally nailed it, although poor old Phil Oakey must have shed a few pounds wearing a winter crombie overcoat to perform his set.
A great night was had by all and although the stadium was more empty than full, the concert itself was a great success and we look forward to the promoters brining over more great bands.
