Date: 12 November 2001
Originally published in: Birmingham Evening Mail (UK)
Written by: Adrian Caffery
Here and Now 2001, Birmingham NEC.
Eighties chart stars briefly shone again when they returned to the stage with more hits than a Guinness book. Saturday’s show was arare chance for 30-somethings to dress up and get down to tunes from their youth without the threat of sneers from hip hop teenage clubbers. Some even dusted down old school uniforms for their stroll along memory lane, while concert promoters did a roaring trade in bonce boppers and fluorescent necklaces.
Pint-sized Carol Decker of T’Pau looked as good as she sounded as she kicked off the three-hour show with a brief set featuring ‘Heart and Soul’ and the no.1 smash ‘China in Your Hands’. Nick Heyward got the crowd on its feet with Haircut 100 songs ‘Love plus one’ and ‘Fantastic day’ then Go West maintained the feelgood factor with ‘Call me’ and ‘We close our eyes’.
Techno trio Heaven 17 revived ‘Temptation’ and ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ while funky Ben Volpierre of Curiosity Killed The Cat appeared not to have aged since his 1987 heyday.
TV gardener Kim Wilde gave her more recent image a retro makeover. Peroxide and leathers made a welcome for a longer set featuring ‘You came’ and ‘Kids in America’. The curtain came down after an energetic performance by Paul Young.
