(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Wang Chung, The Motels, and Naked Eyes have joined forces to create a musical extravaganza that transports audiences to the heart of the neon-soaked, synth-driven decade with the Abducted by the '80s Tour, coming to Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) on Thursday, June 13, 2024 at 7:30pm.
The 1980s were a unique, fun-filled era of music shaped in no small part by the emergence of MTV and the genre of New Wave. Fans will have a chance to step back in time to the electrifying era of the ‘80s with this music tour that promises a nostalgic journey of iconic sounds and unforgettable melodies.
Get ready to dance, sing along, and relive the magic of the 80s with this unforgettable music tour, including mega-hits such as “Everybody Have Fun Tonight,” “Dance Hall Days,” “Let's Go,” “Only The Lonely,” “Suddenly Last Summer,” “Always Something There To Remind Me” and “Promises, Promises.”
“I'm so excited to be reunited with Wang Chung and Naked Eyes for the Abducted by the Eighties tour this year,” says the Motels' Martha Davis. “Nick, Jack, and Pete are some of my favorite people, not to mention amazing musicians! Hope to see you all there for some great nights and wonderful music.”
“For our brand new tour this Spring, we have put together a group of acts that fit together musically, thematically, and harmoniously,” adds Wang Chung’s Nick Feldman and Jack Hues. “We wanted to create a night of big hits, big songs from your favorite movies and numerous TV shows, plus a few deeper cuts too. So come along and see us, get Abducted by the 80s, and have some FUN TONIGHT as you relive that magical decade!”
Come dance to the hits and get Abducted By the 80s!
Tickets range from $39-$79 and are available for purchase online. Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) is located at 100 South Street in Morristown, New Jersey.
Wang Chung, the duo of Nick Feldman and Jack Hues, came out of the post-punk, New Wave scene in the UK going on to achieve global success selling millions of records. Throughout their 39 year career they have released 6 studio albums and 2 greatest hits collections. They have had 6 US Top 40 hits including a massive Number 1 single. In the process of all of this (and somewhat unintentionally), Wang Chung became part of the contemporary culture of North America. Their huge smash, “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”, with its now famous line, “Everybody Wang Chung tonight”, saw the invention of a new US verb – “to Wang Chung”. Icons such as Homer Simpson and Frasier Crane name-checked the band on TV. Wang Chung even achieved punch-line status in the movie The Spy Who Shagged Me. The band became a multi-media sensation with urban lexicon cache that will entertain and confound for generations.
You will find their decade-defying hits as part of the soundtracks to dozens of commercials, films, video games, TV shows, and more. Now, when you’re at any social gathering and someone asks, “Can you tell me what a Wang Chung is?”, you can amaze and astound everyone around you with the details to formulate the perfect informed answer.
In 1971, a young Martha Davis joined The Warfield Foxes, a band from Berkeley California. In 1975 they moved to Los Angeles and changed the band name to The Motels. The new name was inspired on the way to the band’s first show at Barney’s Beanery. Guitarist Dean Chamberlain noted the motor inns as they drove down Santa Monica Boulevard and suggested “What about The Motels?”
The band broke up then reformed in 1978 with guitarist Jeff Jourard who brought in his brother Marty on keyboards and saxophone. Michael Goodroe on bass and Brian Glascock on drums rounded out the quintet. This lineup played around L.A. for six months before signing with Capitol Records on May 13, 1979—Mother’s Day. The Motels released five albums on Capitol Records between 1979 and 1985, two of them earning gold record status and generating two Top Ten singles, “Only the Lonely” and “Suddenly Last Summer.” When the band broke up in 1987 Martha released Policy, a solo album that charted in Australia.
After leaving Capitol Davis spent years working in different musical genres with multitudes of players. Recently it became apparent that one particular configuration generated the same feeling as the original band concept. The new lineup includes guitarist Clint Walsh, drummer Eric Gardner, bassist Nic Johns and as of 2011, original member Marty Jourard. Apocalypso, a previously unreleased version of 1982’s All Four One was released in 2011 on Omnivore Records, thirty years to the day after the intended original date. The band is currently working on their 9th studio album.
In the early days while still performing in the pubs of Bath, England, Byrne, as one half of the synth-pop pioneers Naked Eyes, along with bandmate Rob Fisher, shared a love for the music of Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. “It was around 1980 that Rob and I formed a band called Neon, that would later include Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal,” says Byrne. “We recorded a few songs, but the band fizzled, and Roland and Curt went on to form Tears For Fears, while Rob and I created Naked Eyes.” Almost immediately, the band signed to EMI and began recording at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.
“… I’ve always loved the songs from the great girl singers of the sixties, and one day in the studio we decided to do a cover of one of them; it could easily have been a Dusty Springfield song or a Cilla Black tune, but as fate would have it, we settled on a Sandie Shaw song.” That song, was the Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune “Always Something There To Remind Me,” which immediately exploded into the Top Ten…..followed by the self-penned “Promises, Promises” and “When The Lights Go Out.” The back to back to back hits resulted in massive U.S. radio airplay and an almost constant presence on MTV (even if it was in pajamas.)
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, presents a wide range of programs that entertain, enrich, and educate the diverse population of the region and enhance the economic vitality of Northern New Jersey. The 2023-2024 season is made possible, in part, by a grant the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as support received from the F.M. Kirby Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and numerous corporations, foundations and individuals. Mayo Performing Arts Center was named 2016 Outstanding Historic Theatre by the League of Historic American Theatres, and is ranked in the top 50 mid-sized performing arts centers by Pollstar Magazine.
