I’d been looking forward to this one for a long time.
I first became aware that Tears For Fears were doing a tour when they appeared on the Strictly results show during the 2017 series. To my disappointment, I couldn’t get tickets at the time (see my longwinded story about that here), but when the tour was postponed from 2018 to 2019, my ticket hunt had a happier outcome.
A major bonus was that Alison Moyet was supporting. I’ve loved her stuff since I was a kid, ’cause Mum and Dad had her Singles compilation and used to play it in the car all the time. As such, I made sure that Geth and I were at the venue promptly, ’cause I knew it would take a while to get in (security at big arenas has been understandably beefed up ever since the Manchester attack, so it takes longer to get into gigs these days).
(There was a bit of unintentional comedy thanks to Geth’s utter astonishment that this huge concert arena had ‘suddenly appeared’ in the middle of Leeds! He spent a lot of time in Leeds when living in York between 2000 and 2004, but the First Direct Arena was only opened in 2013.)
After grabbing a Tears For Fears badge pack from the merch stand (I love badges and have collected loads – I need to do something with them at some point) – we found our seats and settled in for the show!
Alison Moyet. Gig photography only semi-blurry for this one ’cause we had quite good seats!
Alison Moyet’s set had been advertised as an electronic set, but overall it was probably a fifty-fifty mix of Yazoo classics and her more modern blues-type tracks. I would have liked to hear more of her post-Yazoo ’80s electro stuff, but I really did enjoy the modern songs even though I wasn’t familiar with them, so I can’t complain.
My absolute highlight was obviously Only You. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time, to the extent that I walked down the aisle to it in 2012. Getting to see Alison Moyet perform it live was a really, really special thing for me.
Alison Moyet setlist:
I Germinate Nobody’s Diary Do You Ever Wonder Beautiful Gun All Cried Out The Rarest Birds The Sharpest Corner Situation Only You Love Resurrection Don’t Go
An interval and some more drinks later, it was time for the main event!
Tears For Fears. It was so awesome to see these two live!
Tears For Fears were doing a shameless greatest hits set – signalled from the start when they came onstage to Lorde’s cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World and then launched into the original version – and they have a lot of hits, so there were very few tracks I didn’t recognise. It was all enjoyable singalong numbers from start to finish, which was exactly what I wanted to hear.
It’s hard to choose a highlight, but I’m going to go with Mad World, which has been a favourite of mine for decades now (it was on the first ’80s nostalgia playlist I created back in the ’90s, and I remember in 2003 trying to convince my brother that the original was better than the Michael Andrews version). Again, it was such a nice moment to hear it live at long last.
Unusually, there was only one track played as part of the encore – but it was Shout, and it went on for ages, so it was a suitably epic finale!
Tears For Fears setlist:
Everybody Wants To Rule The World Secret World Sowing The Seeds Of Love Pale Shelter Break It Down Again Everybody Loves A Happy Ending Change Mad World Memories Fade Suffer The Children Woman In Chains Advice For The Young At Heart Badman’s Song Head Over Heels Shout
Overall a great gig to start the year’s live music, and it will take some beating. A bonus was that Geth was really impressed by the First Direct Arena, so he’s now very happy to join me in my endless ’80s musical indulgence when bands play in Leeds. We’ll be back there for A-ha in November!
This is the way the world looked in November 1989, when I was small and Christmas trees were…silver. I am 100% positive that nobody usually put up their Christmas trees in November back in the ’80s – that is most definitely a 21st century thing due to ongoing Christmas creep – but I think my great-aunt and great-uncle got the decorations out early that year so that the wee bro and I could ‘help’. Of course, in my world, Christmas decorations still look like that – or even older – ’cause my mum and her mum before her have been keeping them all as heirlooms since the ’40s.
So, we’ve reached the end of the ’80s in our Now! compilation journey. Let’s enjoy those last few glorious tracks!
Track 1: Tears For Fears – Sowing The Seeds Of Love
So I was super gutted when Tears For Fears announced their tour last autumn, ’cause the tickets were pricy, we would have had to travel to Leeds, and I just couldn’t justify the expense at the time. It was one of my big gig regrets for 2018.
In the last week, they’ve announced they’ve had to postpone the tour to 2019 for medical reasons. The tickets all became available again, I found out Alison Moyet was supporting (which I hadn’t known before), and I was feeling a bit more flush than I had in the autumn. I bought tickets for the Leeds gig. Of course I did.
So I’m going to see Tears For Fears (and Alison Moyet) in February 2019, and now I don’t have to feel sad and disappointed every time one of their tracks comes on Vintage TV (which is approximately every five minutes). Winning!
Anyway, this track. It’s a bit ‘pre-1990s’ for my liking, especially ’cause I adore their early-to-mid-1980s stuff so much, but it’s a nice tune and I always find myself singing along when it comes on Vintage TV. Which, as I say, is often.
Track 2: Belinda Carlisle – Leave A Light On
Really like this singalong track. Lovely vocals, lovely tune.
Track 3: Erasure – Drama!
Lovely tinkly slow synth intro before the beat bangs in. Epic atmosphere, great track.
Track 4: Debbie Harry – I Want That Man
Really like the tune on this one. Nice upbeat pop.
I think you can probably guess, however, how I feel about the line ‘here comes the twenty-first century/it’s gonna be much better for a girl like me‘. Yeah. I’m glad someone’s optimistic.
Track 5: Sydney Youngblood – If Only I Could
Gotta love those bouncy instrumentals. Great head-nodder.
Track 6: Curiosity Killed The Cat – Name And Number
I’ve always really liked this one! That chorus is great.
Fun fact: Little Mix avoided a pointless cover of this by doing that strange 2010s thing where you cover the chorus only and then do a completely different verse, meaning you can call the track a different name (in this case How Ya Doin’?).
Nice jaunty instrumentals, and in comes Jacqui Abbott on the vocals – we are definitely post-Housemartins now. Not my favourite Beautiful South track, but it’s a nice tune with typically whimsical lyrics.
Track 8: Wet Wet Wet – Sweet Surrender
A bit slower from Wet Wet Wet, but I really like those instrumentals. Chorus could be more epic, though.
Track 9: Queen – Breakthru
Nice vocal harmony intro to a slightly erratic track. The tune is a bit dull, but it’s still pretty solid from Queen.
Track 10: Tina Turner – The Best
Classic singalong track – one of those ones where I’m up on the dancefloor at the wedding disco. Epic song.
Track 11: Transvision Vamp – Born To Be Sold
Slower and a bit acoustic from Transvision Vamp today. I still really like it, though.
Church bell intro! You don’t hear that on every pop song, but then it is Kate Bush. Love the tune too, nice epic atmosphere.
Track 14: Fine Young Cannibals – I’m Not The Man I Used To Be
For some reason, on Now! #16 there were a few tracks that featured on the CD release only. I don’t know if it’s because CDs had more space, and the Now! compilers were excited about the novelty of that, or what. Anyway, this is the first of them.
Nice instrumentals, but this track is a bit slow and dull for my liking.
Track 15: Then Jerico – Sugar Box
A bit saccharine, but I quite like the tune, especially when it gets a bit rockier as the track goes on.
Track 16: Living In A Box – Room In Your Heart
Wow. We’ve reached 1989 and even Living In A Box were doing dull ballads. Nothing to elevate this one.
Track 17: Richard Marx – Right Here Waiting
I’ve always had a soft spot for this ballad. It’s the kind of thing I should hate, but I don’t.
Track 18: Milli Vanilli – Girl I’m Gonna Miss You
It’s Milli Vanilli and their possibly-fake vocals again! I actually really like this one, it’s a lovely tune and theme.
Track 19: The Rebel MC and Double Trouble – Street Tuff
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Nice upbeat dance track, like the sampling. Good stuff.
Track 20: Bobby Brown – On Our Own
Good instrumentals and sung vocals on this one – the rap’s a bit dull though.
Track 21: Technotronic and Felly – Pump Up The Jam
Classic dance track – another ‘oh, it’s this one!’ moment. Happily chair-dancing right now.
Track 22: Lil’ Louis – French Kiss
Another track that was on the CD release only.
Repetitive intro that goes on too long – get on with it! The shortest version I was able to find is eight minutes long, so it takes forever to get going. Not my kind of thing, especially when it slows down and brings in the orgasm noises. I’m guessing this is not the version that was on the Now! compilation.
Track 23: Adeva – I Thank You
Highly pre-1990s dance track. Vocals a bit over-the-top for me.
Track 24: D-Mob and Cathy Dennis – C’mon And Get My Love
Really like the drum machine on that intro. Solid dance tune.
Track 25: De La Soul – Eye Know
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Too repetitive for me, and I don’t like the backing tune.
Track 26: Inner City – Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’
Not an Inner City fan anyway, and this one is kind of slow and repetitive. Not for me.
Track 27: Big Fun – Can’t Shake The Feeling
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Something about the tune annoys me. It’s fairly pop-by-numbers otherwise.
Track 28: Cliff Richard – I Just Don’t Have The Heart
Actually quite an upbeat one from Cliff Richard! His vocals are still super cheesy and irritating though.
Track 29: Jimmy Somerville and June Miles Kingston – Comment Te Dire Adieu
Great track! Daft French atmosphere, awesome tune. I’m chair-dancing again here!
Track 30: Brother Beyond – Drive On
Another ‘CD release only’ track..
A bit cheesy, but I really quite like this – it’s just nice, pure, upbeat pop.
Track 31: Shakespear’s Sister – You’re History
Really squawky and squeaky in the vocals, with Siobhan Fahey going a bit overboard, obviously still feeling that post-Bananarama freedom. Quite an interesting tune, though.
Track 32: Oh Well – Oh Well
‘Not on Spotify’ Type 2: YouTube Pause (TM).
Nice funky melody, quite a nice track when they’re not rapping.
Track 33: Neneh Cherry – Kisses On The Wind
Bit of a messy sample mishmash at the start, but it’s okay once it gets going.
Track 34: Redhead Kingpin & The FBI – Do The Right Thing
Headache-inducing intro, repetitive track. Not my cup of tea.
Track 35: Fresh 4 and Lizz E – Wishing On A Star
Not a fan of this drum ‘n’ bass cover, but at least it does something different to the Rose Royce original.
