OUTscene Editor
This past Friday evening, I ventured down to Portland to catch a rare performance of an 80's retro group, the B-52s performing at the Oregon Zoo. I walked with fellow concert goers through the Portland humidity, past the vacant Black Bear Ridge, Lorikeet Landing, and Primate Center. By concert time, the animals had been put away in favor of some of the best people-watching I’ve experienced in a while. Gay, Straight, families all dancing to a DJ in front of the stage. There was NO reserved seating but was lucky enough to find my contact and she provided some box seating just a little right of the stage. PERFECT!
Under the humidity of a 95 degree day, the premiere blenders of 1950s retro fashion and New Wave, the B-52s, took the stage and delivered a flashback to the days when college alternative music actually was alternative.
Through the quirky, overstated denunciations of Fred Schneider (The Old Queen) and soaring vocal might of Kate Pierson (Ageless) and Cindy Wilson (Only half of a bee-hive), the band launched into a 90-minute dance party, pulling songs from its 30-year-plus catalog.
With "Wig" (from the band's fourth album, "Bouncing Off the Satellites") as an appetizer, the main course kicked in through the early 1980s classics "Private Idaho," with its pounding bass drum , and the ethereally weird "Mesopotamia."
Even with about a quarter of the set culled from the band's less familiar 2008 release, "Funplex," including the mall-themed title track, "Ultraviolet" and "Love in the Year 3000," it's hard not to tap a foot or do the mashed potato.
Actually, the constant prodding by (Gorgeous) Keith Strickland's surfy and infectious guitar groove combined with a rhythm section featuring drummer Sterling Campbell and bassist Tracy Wormworth made it impossible to resist.
Of course, B-52s standards "Love Shack" and "Party Out of Bounds" eventually were played and brought the crowd together in unison song and near frenzy.
Best surprise of the evening was Ms. Wilson. I saw the band about 10 years ago, and she was not looking or sounding very healthy. Well, she's back. Looking physically fit and packing powerful vocals, she never disappointed. Be it in the sultry "Give Me Back My Man," doing the swim in her sparkly short skirt or matching Ms. Pierson note for note during "Roam."
Speaking of Ms. Pierson, she anchored the set (Can this woman actually be 62 years old? No way!) with her higher vocal range, siren-like callings and harmonic counterpoints.
And then there's Mr. Schneider, and that unforgettable voice emoting a gamut of goofy emotions.
We heard the playful Fred, "robots, bootybots, erotobots"; the demanding Fred, "What's that on your head?”; The indifferent Fred, "the Deadbeat Club …" and the agitated Fred, "Who's to blame?"
Fred reminded me of a queeny, single nieghbor.
The guy's underrated attack on the band's classic material, occasional shimmy and the glockenspiel solo on "Give Me Back My Man" often put a smile on concertgoers faces.
The encore saw the big hits from the band's 1978 self-titled debut album with Ms. Pierson wooing the crowd through her siren vocal on "Planet Claire" and an evening-concluding, definitive B-52s classic "Rock Lobster."
There so much 80's nostalgia, I even caught a few High School friends in the audience and we all went to Facebook to chat about later.
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