June 1986, Six Flags Atlantis, Hollywood, Fla.
I did a review a few years back for the latest Outfield album and your response — “There’s a recent Outfield album” — is the correct one. I didn’t like it at all, and was summarily pummeled for the review by fans of the Australian band. I wrote, in part “it’s one thing to sound like the 1980s when it is the 1980s, but quite another when it’s 2011.”
But in 1985, when I was entering my senior year of high school, The Outfield made an album I liked quite a bit (and it wasn’t just me). Play Deep, the debut release from the Aussie trio, was 38 minutes of pop perfection, boasting several hits including “Your Love,” a song still found in rotation today. It was part of the senior year soundtrack (along with Unforgettable Fire, Fables of the Reconstruction and Head on the Door) for which seeing the band live was at a premium.
Six Flags Atlantis was one of those huge water parks which popped up everywhere in the 1980s — the big slides, the tidal wave pool, the hot tubs. During the summertime a ticket to the park got you in for a late afternoon concert on certain Saturdays. It was the summer before the start of college, and for many of us a great place to have a graduation party.
Oddly enough, The Fixx is one of those bands I’ve seen live four times, and on this day would mark my second Fixx show (I will get to the first one at a later date). I can’t be sure if they were the opener or the headliner — it would make sense they were headliners because they were more accomplished at that point — but I’m almost certain The Outfield, on the tail of their triple-platinum album, took the top honors.
Phantoms was The Fixx’s 1986 release, including the single “Secret Separation,” a great song none of knew at the time. But two of the band’s earlier songs stood out during the show, the monster hit “One Thing Leads to Another” (which Cy Curnin said during a solo show a few years back is the song that pays his mortgage), and “Red Skies”. Why “Red Skies”? Because the sun was setting on a hot, muggy day, and the song and falling sun came as a nice relief.
This is why I’m sure The Outfield was last, because it was nighttime when the band played. Their stage presence wasn’t nearly as pronounced as The Fixx, and that’s understandable. Curnin understands the stage while Outfield singer Tony Lewis was just getting used to it, but if you have great songs, it doesn’t matter what you do on stage (I don’t ever think I’ve seen Robert Smith do more than walk slowly from one side to the other). “Say It Isn’t So,” “I Don’t Need Her,” “Everytime You Cry,” “All the Love,” “Talk to Me,” “Your Love” — they played all the songs because that’s all they had.
And amid the crowd of wet bodies in bathing suits, where distraction was at a premium, Lewis’ voice rose above the din. Ideally a water park is not the best place for a show — there’s a portion of people who have no desire to see or hear live music — but The Outfield was game, and would win the crowd over by the set’s end.
It was, like that time in my life, a bit unorganized, uncertain and a little carefree. It was fun, which is what live music is meant to be.
