Kim brings hope to the lost generation

Looks like I really did start something. The Eighties revival, which has gone on longer than anyone expected, is about to rear its back-combed head again. Eighties songstress and gardening expert Kim Wilde and a host of other acts are to embark on a nationwide nostalgia extrava-organza – or will it be polka dot? – tour this autumn.

This time I won’t be joining in but I may swish along to ask Kim why my house plants keep wilting. Of course, I won’t go empty handed. I shall take her a copy of my new Karma cook book, which hits the shops this week, and I might even chuck in a portion of sugar-free apple crumble.

I keep getting asked why there is still such interest in the era which was once the most hated decade, and I still haven’t come up with a logical response. With the current pop scene being so calculated and cynical, maybe the lost generation who are careering towards middle age, who don’t have flat stomachs and can’t dance to order, are just desperate for a good old-fashioned knees up under a cloud of hairspray.

These nostalgia tours always attract an interesting bunch. You get the diehard fans for whom life does not exist beyond a certain tune and those who just want to see how the dinosaurs have weathered. No matter how many hits you’ve had, the punters are always waiting for the one song that has been the bane of your existence. Every band or solo artist, has a song that glues them to a moment, but there’s always one fan (bless ’em) shouting for some obscure B-side that you’ve forgotten the words to.

Kim will be headlining the nostalgia-fest, but also on the bill are Go West, who I toured Japan with some years ago (who’s counting) and Haircut 100, with the compact Nick Heyward, who judging from the official press pictures has been making regular visits to the gym. Don’t tell me a “Perfect Pecs” video is on the way? Oh well, beats working for a living.