Totally Tubular Festival 2024

Recent years have seen the rise of nostalgia tours, where bands which were popular in a particular era or genre come together to play their hits to aging audiences looking, for one evening, to relive their youth. Often featuring a large number of bands all playing short sets which given them time to play just a few songs each, these tours have gotten the reputation of being a mixed bag. Too many feature bands with questionable lineage, being nearly cover bands with the members on stage bearing little resemblance to the lineups of the group’s heyday. The 80s in particular have been ripe for the picking, with many people who grew up in the decade being both of an age that can still be drawn out to a much venue and of a disposable income that they’re willing to spend the money to do so.

The latest iteration of this trend, the Totally Tubular Festival, has been making its way around the country this summer, and made its stop in DC at The Anthem last Sunday night. With a lineup consisting of everyone from Thomas Dolby and Tom Bailey (of the Thompson Twins), to Men Without Hats and Wang Chung, the tour (like those that came before it) is clearly looking to hit a nostalgia cord with people who grew up in the era.

What’s different on this tour is that all of the bands are still heavy hitters. Every band on the tour has had some lineup changes since their heyday, but for the most part the members who are still there are the most important ones. When you think of Thompson Twins, Tom Bailey’s voice is likely the first thing you hear. The standout part of Bow Wow Wow is Annabella Lwin’s distinctive delivery. The only exception to this was the opening set by Eddie Munoz playing songs from his time in The Plimsouls, but even that featured truth in advertising (it wasn’t billed as “The Plimsouls” but rather “Eddie Munoz of the Plimsouls”), and Munoz gathered a quite capable group of musicians to play his brief four-song set with him.

The short sets meant that the night was packed with hits. “A Million Miles Away” by The Plimsouls, “I Want Candy” by Bow Wow Wow, “She’s a Beauty” by The Tubes, “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” by Wang Chung, “Hold Me Now” by Thompson Twins, “She Blinded Me With Science” by Thomas Dolby… Men Without Hats even opted to play “Safety Dance” twice, at both the beginning and end of their seven-song set. Fans of the bands might have preferred more depth (was I the only one who would have liked to hear Men Without Hats do “Folk of the 80s”?), but no one could deny the greatness of the songs performed.

We can’t go back to the 80s (and really, who would want to?), but the Totally Tubular Festival provides a great chance to relive some of the best musical moments of the era in one evening. Hopefully some of the artists choose to come around again individually and play longer sets.