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Spandau Ballet, O2 Arena

Spandau Ballet, O2 Arena

New Romantics bigger than ever? True, unbelievably

by Wednesday, 21 October 2009
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The success of Spandau Ballet's ecstatically received reunion lies in no small part in its impeccable timing. The band could hardly have chosen a better moment to re-form and revisit their well stocked catalogue of 1980s hits. Not only are their original fans now stuck firmly into middle age and feeling the usual nostalgia for the soundtrack of their youth, but a younger generation of listeners has at last decided that Eighties pop is cool.

The success of Spandau Ballet's ecstatically received reunion lies in no small part in its impeccable timing. The band could hardly have chosen a better moment to re-form and revisit their well stocked catalogue of 1980s hits. Not only are their original fans now stuck firmly into middle age and feeling the usual nostalgia for the soundtrack of their youth, but a younger generation of listeners has at last decided that Eighties pop is cool.

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Submitted by Markc 48 (not verified) on Thu, 22/10/2009 - 00:14
Good reveiw - I was at the gig and I think you summed it up very well. I loved it! Don't like to nit pick, but it's "Through the Barricades" !!

Submitted by rob young (not verified) on Thu, 22/10/2009 - 15:23
Can I just say I think Spandau are the most egregiously fake band on the entire planet.....

Submitted by Martin (not verified) on Mon, 26/10/2009 - 07:14
I took all the Way from Germany to See them in birmingham and it was Gold. Even my younger girlfriend did like what She heard there. It was extraordinaire. Go in

Submitted by peter.culshaw (not verified) on Mon, 26/10/2009 - 16:47
New Romanticism was an attempt to recreate Cabaret at London’s Blitz Club; all those girls with monocles and Eton crops, and Steve Strange attempting to be the Joel Gray, Maitre D’ figure. In fact, New Romanticism took Cabaret, took punk rock, took Glam rock and mixed them all together in the name of decadence. Unfortunately, it came up with Spandau Ballet. Wasn’t that a shame? A quote from Philip Hoare, who wrote a book on Stephen Tennant, the brightest of the 20s Bright Young Things

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