Summer seems to be the perfect time for fans of 80s new wave music to rejoice. Perhaps no tour has attempted to gravitate to that audience better than the Totally Tubular Festival, now in its third year.
The 2026 iteration of the tour launched here in Phoenix at Celebrity Theatre on Fri. July 17. It operated less as a contemporary concert and more as a modern version of an “80s revue” package tour. Not unlike the 1950s acts whose “caravan tours” took place in the 1980s at the nearest casino.
I remember seeing commercials on TV for them regularly, and hearing radio bits as well. I have to confess— as a teenager, it was embarrassing and unthinkable that any musician would want to be associated with something like that.
Admittedly, I’d find out I would be in for a rude awakening by the 2010s when those exact same scenarios would also apply to bands from Generation X. With arguably more options than just the casino circuit—for better and worse– but that’s another story entirely.
Seeing new wave and “power-pop” acts subvert that old industry stigma by adopting the ‘50s-era package blueprint to command a standard theatre venue in 2026 highlights an interesting shift in how late-century musical legacies are preserved.
Utilizing the Celebrity’s frequent half-house configuration (of roughly 1300 seats), the show drew a dedicated audience of 800 fans whose deep musical memories were rewarded with brief sets, including headliner Thomas Dolby & The Lost Toy People. It was their first public performance since 1988, while The Producers also reunited its original lineup for the first time in over 25 years.
Musically, the billing offered a vast showcase of era-defining pop songcraft, though it was strictly governed by rigid festival logistics. Especially indoors.
The first three acts—Tommy Tutone, The Escape Club and Animotion— were confined to rapid-fire, 20-minute time slots. However, the first two were required to share a single, static drum kit to ensure hyper-efficient changeovers. While Tutone and The Escape Club relied on some guitar-driven hooks, Animotion and subsequent act Bow Wow Wow pushed the PA system with dance-heavy grooves and sharp rhythmic punch.
During a mid-show intermission, Animotion’s Astrid Plane broke the Celebrity’s “fourth wall” by graciously walking through the crowd to take selfies with fans, adding an unexpected layer of artist-to-fan interaction to the show. I have to admit, one doesn’t see that very often during live shows nowadays. If at all.
Synthesizer setups took center stage during the latter half of the night, anchoring the soundscapes of A Flock Of Seagulls and the intricately pop eccentricities of Thomas Dolby’s headline set.
Dolby provided one of the night’s boldest (or maybe, bewildering) artistic pivots by doing a (slightly) re-arranged take on his signature hit She Blinded Me With Science. It was seemingly a slower, jazzier rendition with just enough of the core melody to remain recognizable, while perhaps subverting some fans’ expectations.
While the music put plenty of grins and smiles across many faces at the Celebrity that night, it still made me realize that time has arguably not been kind to half of the songs performed tonight. But the memories remain, again, for better and worse. But I digress.
The final verdict, good readers? 2.5 out of five stars.
