Roland Orzabal said at last night's Tears for Fears concert at the 9:30 Club in DC: "We're not only a classic 80's band.... [pause]...oh yes, we are!"
It was truly a remarkable concert. Yes, yes, I know some people will say, "But that's OLD." Hey, Elvis is old and some people still like him, right? Why? Because they are CLASSICS in their own way.
If you think of the '80s, it speaks of a whole genre of music. Yes, it was "pop-py" and it was a decade of one-hit wonders, but people have so much nostalgia for this time. This was the decade of my teens.... yes, the teen angst stage, trying to look "cool" by listening to top 40 music and watching, at that time, Video Hit Parade. I shunned going to family engagements in favor of sitting in front of the radio, on standby, waiting to record my favorite song as soon as it came on. The result of which were dozens of tape recordings with radio DJ's commentaries cut off, either at the beginning or at the end.
And one of the bands that definitely stood out in that decade was Tears for Fears. In fact, as much of a huge Wham! fan that I was, the first cassette tape I bought was the Tears for Fears album, "Songs from the Big Chair". Yes, it cost PHP75 at that time, but if you're not getting a big allowance, that was a lot of saving up that I had to do.
The concert we watched was worth the $50 something we paid for each ticket. They did not disappoint in playing their greatest hits like "Mad World", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Head Over Heels", "Pale Shelter", "Break It Down Again", etc., etc. Even the songs they played from "Side B" (or even "Side C", as Roland Orzabal called it) did not sound awful or grating at all. In fact, they both sounded crisp (especially Roland) and their voice quality did not change despite being older in years. THEY JUST SOUNDED REALLY GOOD!
This is only my second concert here in America (the first one was around 3 years ago for a John Mayer-Sheryl Crow back-to-back concert in Virginia, which wasn't that great), and my first concert at a club. There are definitely some pros and cons to it. A club is smaller, more intimate, so the musicians are closer to you, BUT it is basically standing room only, so we just positioned ourselves at the stairs so we can get a better view (unless somebody taller stood in front of you). The club is not like the night club we have back in the Philippines (just to clarify! hehe!), but it's more like a smaller performance venue where there are a few tables for people who get there early enough and can order drinks while waiting or watching.... (They actually serve coffee also, and not just alcohol.).
I actually had to go out of my comfort zone to agree to watch this show. Yeah, I like Tears for Fears but on a school night? On a Monday night? On my first day back at work? For it to be starting relatively late at 9 pm? There were definitely more arguments against watching a concert that I might not enjoy because of all the above-mentioned factors. But after hearing about the success of TFF's jaunt in Manila, I couldn't pass it up. Who knows when they'll get together again for another concert? A few more years, I may deem myself too old to be hanging out at a club on a weeknight. So I took that leap and just said, "Let's do it". And I am SO glad I did.
If a band's a CLASSIC, there's a reason why they are. You just don't get tired of listening to the songs because they will always sound good and "fresh" for you. When we got back from the concert, we played the other songs that they didn't play from the concert on my iPod, and we are still "high" from it....
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