NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
Over the last ten years, we’ve seen a resurgence of New Wave/synthpop bands from the 80s coming out of retirement to tour, discovering that their fans from forty years ago were nostalgic for the music of their youth and now had disposable income!! Besides bands like Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, and the Cure who never stopped making music and touring, others have found that touring “festivals” like the inaugural Totally Tubular Festival were a great way to get together with other like-minded acts. The 2024 lineup for Totally Tubular included co-headliners Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins and Thomas Dolby and played the Theatre at the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Mississauga (Toronto) on Wednesday, July 24th.
Eddie Munoz and the Plimsouls took the stage just a half hour after doors opened so many people were still making their way into the venue or were on line to buy merch. As such, their short four song set was missed by many. Munoz stuck around after their set to chat and take pictures with some fans, which was really nice!
Click on photos to enlarge
Next up was Tommy Tutone with their huge hit “867-5309/Jenny”. With just vocalist guitarist Tommy Heath and drummer Jimmy James left from their original line-up, they still looked like they were having a great time onstage and encouraged the audience to sing with them on their eponymous hit!
Click on photos to enlarge
Annabella Lwin and Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow took the energy up a notch. Racing back and forth across the stage in a miniskirt, possibly to avoid the very bright spotlights, Lwin blew through their five song set, culminated by everyone’s favorite “I Want Candy”!
Click on photos to enlarge
Many probably forget exactly how big Wang Chung was in the 80s with their string of hits! It felt like every song they played, including a cover of the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” were big hits! Jack Hues triggered a memory that we didn’t remember that we knew….that they had written and performed the title song for the movie “To Live and Die in LA”!! What a fun set and both Hues and Nick Feldman were spot on!
Click on photos to enlarge
When Modern English took the stage, I must admit that I wasn’t familiar with any of their music besides “I Melt With You”. Even more surprising was the fact they had released a new studio album “1 2 3 4” back in February!! Vocalist Robbie Grey was in fine form, looking good and sounding great, and why not? It turns out it was also his 67th birthday so the crowd joined in to sing “Happy Birthday” before the band ended their set with “that song”….yes, I Melt With You.
Click on photos to enlarge
The most energetic performer of the night award goes to Men Without Hats vocalist Ivan Doroschuk. Besides doing his classic safety dance, he spent most of the set running around the stage, sometimes with the mic stand in hand, looking anything but safe! Perhaps that was offset by their playing “Safety Dance” twice!! While it’s a great song, it seemed like a wasted opportunity to play more of their music.
Click on photos to enlarge
The stage setup for Tom Bailey, the driving force behind the amazing Thompson Twins, was probably the most “produced” out of any of the acts this evening. He entered the stage, very dapper in white (including his hair!), with his all female band, also dressed in white! This was the only act where every song of the set was familiar to the audience, who were now all on their feet and dancing! Whether playing guitar or keyboards, or just singing, he sounded amazing! Plus he moved around the stage so that he could engage with fans on different sides of the stage. While you can’t exactly say he was high energy, his band injected a lot of fun and energy into the set. This was probably the highlight of the evening.
Click on photos to enlarge
What can you say about Thomas Dolby, the electronic genius, a man ahead of his time, who made a fortune with ringtones!! Oddly enough, he kicked off with a cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday” on which he didn’t even sing. His set included several tributes, his beautiful jacket to firefighters, “One of Our Submarines” to his father, and a cover of “Heroes” to David Bowie!! Again, on a short seven song set, it’s a shame he didn’t play more of his own music. However, his keyboard playing, including a breakaway keyboard with which he could walk around the stage, was absolutely incredible. That combined with the light show made his set stunning.
Click on photos to enlarge
The Totally Tubular Festival was a long but fun night and definitely brought us all back to younger days. It did feel like Tom Bailey should have played last since his eight song set had the whole crowd out of their seats. Nevertheless, it was a raucous night for an 80s party and everyone had a great time!!