August Bank Holiday Monday saw me make a long-awaited return to the Garage in Islington to finally see an act that has long been a staple of my gargantuan ’80s playlist, Men Without Hats. Known primarily for their infectious 1982 hit ‘The Safety Dance’, the Canadian crew hit London as part of their 2025 European tour.
They received ample support from Midlanders The Rude Awakening, a synthpop duo who seem to primarily ply their trade with covers of much loved ’80s hits, sprinkling on the odd original for seasoning. As a modern-day opening act for an ’80s band plugging into ’80s material, Bridget Gray and Johnny Normal did a decent job of warming up the crowd. I appreciated their good taste in choosing Japan’s ‘Quiet Life’, Visage’s ‘Fade to Gray’, and Blancmange’s ‘Living on the Ceiling’ as cover material, and I credit them for introducing me to OMD’s ‘Tesla Girls’ by way of their excellent take on the song. Their own efforts, though less in my lane, weren’t bad, ‘She Has a Juice Box’ having a chilled, trippy modern-nightclub vibe for those who dig that kinda thing. A competent, if somewhat karaoke, start.
The hallowed headliners later hit the ground running, kicking off, and arguably blowing their wad, with their most iconic hit, eliciting the swaying, singalong participation of the audience. Vocalist, founder, and sole original member Ivan Doroschuk, at an agile and energetic 68, strode, danced, and flexed his way across the stage, pipes firing on all cylinders, unmolested by the passing of decades.
His enthusiasm was matched by that of beaming guitarist Sho Murray, who stole the spotlight with his axework at choice moments. Adrian White amply attended to rhythmic matters on drums, whilst original keyboardist Colin Doroschuk’s daughter—and Ivan’s niece— Sahara Sloan handled her father’s role with a knack that would no doubt elicit a wholesome “#ThatsWhatDaddyLikes” from the old man were he attendant.
Songwise, the setlist ran the gamut from their earliest synth material (my main draw) to their more rock-oriented post-’80s material. It was especially nice to hear ‘Where Do the Boys Go?’ from second album Folk of the 80’s (Part III) and the deceptive, chiptunesque chirpiness of ‘Antarctica’ from debut album Rhythm of Youth; I’ll also give special mention to their then-newest single ‘I Love the ’80s’, a fun little callback to the era in which they placed themselves on the map, complete with the cheesy-yet-awesome lyric 🎵Terminator, come and save me!🎵
Their less synthy numbers left me colder, however, and as nice as it was to hear two additional versions of ‘The Safety Dance’—the ‘Extended Club Mix’ and the slower, more sober ‘No Friends of Mine’ variant—I’d have happily seen them swapped out for tracks such as the jaunty ‘Living in China’, the bouncy ‘Ideas for Walls’, anti-martyrdom anthem ‘Messiahs Die Young’, and ‘The Great Ones Remember’ with its menacing synth line that, combined with the title, brings to mind a looming “alien” fleet waiting to retake the planet, for some reason.
Still, my first live reckoning with the hatless ones was a good, if not quite epic, night out, the set very much being carried by the energy and expertise of the performance despite the hit-and-miss setlist. No doubt fans of the band’s broader discography found more to like in regard to the latter, and I suppose the band’s cover of ABBA’s ‘SOS’ wasn’t too bad either. I suppose I’d make the barriers again were the band to pull, say, a “Rhythm of the ’80s” tour out of a ha—
Oh, wait!
~MRDA~
Leave a Reply