The 80s are BACK!

Where were you in the 80s? Were you bopping out in the nightclubs to Haircut Bands and New Romantics? Maybe you were recording Top of the Pops on your BetaMax video recorder, or one of those new fangled VHS models (they’ll never catch on)? Or perhaps you weren’t even born yet…

Well never fear! The 80’s are back! Tony Denton Promotions has brought together four of the decade’s most memorable acts to tour together for the first time ever. The 80’s Invasion Tour features the cream of music from the some of the UKs most popular artists of the time – Big Country, Midge Ure, Nick Heyward & Curiosity Killed The Cat, and will be touring throughout March 2016.

With combined record sales of over 20 million, 200 gold, platinum & silver discs and numerous awards this is THE 80’s show not to be missed! Starting at Southsea’s Kings Theatre on 1^st March and culminating at Edinburgh’s The Playhouse Theatre on 20^th March there’s enough dates and locations to please everybody.

BIG COUNTRY: Formed in 1981 and with their debut album release two years later ‘The Crossing’ broke the band massively worldwide with their classic singles ‘Fields Of Fire’, ‘Chance’ and signature song ‘In A Big Country’, which went on to become massive worldwide hits, selling over 2 million copies and driving the record to 3 prestigious US Grammy nominations. The run of success continued throughout the 80′s with the anthemic single ‘Wonderland’ and the second album ‘Steeltown’ (1984), which debuted at Number 1 in the UK and contained the hit singles ‘East Of Eden, ‘Just a Shadow’ and ‘Where The Rose Is Sown’. In 1985, Big Country appeared at Live Aid in London followed by further successful album releases ‘The Seer’ (1986, which included the bands biggest UK hit ‘Look Away’). At the start of the 90’s ‘Through A Big Country’, featuring all the bands classic hits was released, followed by the fifth studio album ‘No Place Like Home’ (1991) taking the band’s total record sales to well over five million copies. Further studio albums Buffalo Skinners (1993) and ‘Why The Long Face (1995) followed, which saw Big Country landing the special guest slot on the Rolling Stones ‘Voodoo Lounge’ European tour. In August 1998 they were once again invited to open for the Rolling Stones on their ‘Bridges To Babylon” tour of Europe prompting Mick Jagger to say that Big Country were“one of the best opening bands we ever had”.

MIDGE URE: Recipient of many awards that include Ivor Novello and Grammy awards along with a flotilla of gold and platinum records, Midge Ure needs very little introduction. Musical success is seldom measured in time spans of more than a few years, so the fact that by the time Midge’s single “If I Was” went to No.1 in 1985 he had already crammed several musical lifetimes into a 10 year professional career speaks volumes – Slik, The Rich Kids, Thin Lizzy, Visage, Ultravox and of course the most famous one off group in musical history Band Aid had by then all had the guiding hand of his musical navigation. Ultravox was a major influence on the new romantic and electro-pop movements of the early ’80s. Their successful trademark was combining Midge’s powerful guitar riffs with sweeping synthesiser motifs, enigmatic imagery and state-of-the-art visuals. Tracks like “Reap the Wild Wind”, “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes”, “Love’s Great Adventure”, “All Stood Still”, “The Voice”, “Hymn”, “The Thin Wall” and 1981’s timeless “Vienna” were all massive hits the world over as they charted with awesome regularity, not only on singles, but with seven consecutive top ten albums in just six years.

NICK HEYWARD – His music career began when he formed Haircut 100 in 1981. The band had four UK Top 10 singles – ‘Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) No 4, ‘Fantastic Day’ (No 9), Love Plus One (No 3) and ‘Nobody’s Fool’ (No 9) and turned Nick into a major pop pin up! Their debut album, Pelican West, reached no. 1 in the UK charts. Nick’s solo career began in 1983 with his debut album North of a Miracle which reached no. 10 in the UK charts and included three UK Top 14 singles – ‘Whistle Down the Wind”, “Take That Situation” and “Blue Hat for a Blue Day”. In 1993 his single “Kite”, taken from the album, From Monday to Sunday, made no. 3 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT – instantly became one of the hottest and most popular bands of the late eighties after forming in 1986. While gaining a large teen following, Curiosity Killed The Cat’s appeal was far wider, their cool, funky, distinctive music being a very long way from typical teen fodder. Curiosity Killed The Cat’s many hit singles include “Down to Earth”, which peaked at number 2 in the charts and sold 1.5 million worldwide, “Misfit” “Ordinary Day”, “Hang On In There Baby” and “Name and Number” (which later went on to be a hit single for De La Soul). Curiosity Killed The Cat’s debut album “Keep Your Distance” went straight in to the U.K. album charts at number one, selling over 1.5 million copies while CURIOSITY’S second album “Get Ahead” also made the top ten. In addition, Curiosity Killed The Cat were well respected within the music industry and won a BRITS nomination for the Best New Act of 1987 as well as winning the Music Therapy Best New Act award.

You can catch the 80s Invasion Tour at the following dates and venue with tickets on sale 5th June:

MARCH 2016

Wed 2nd SOUTHSEA – Kings Theatre 02392 828282 www.kingsportsmouth.co.uk

Thurs 3rd BRADFORD – St Georges Hall 01274 432000 www.bradford-theatres.co.uk

Fri 4th NORTHAMPTON – Derngate 01604 624811 www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Sun 6th LIVERPOOL – Philharmonic Hall 0151 709 3789 www.liverpoolphil.com

Wed 9th WATFORD – Colosseum 0845 075 3993 www.watfordcolosseum.co.uk

Thurs 10th POOLE – Lighthouse 0844 406 8666 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk

Fri 11th LEICESTER – De Montfort Hall 0116 233 3111 www.demontforthall.co.uk

Sat 12th BASINGSTOKE – The Anvil 01256 844244 www.anvilarts.org.uk

Sun 13th CHATHAM – The Central Theatre 01634 338338 www.medwayticketslive.co.uk

Mon 14th MANCHESTER – Opera House 0844 871 3018 www.atgtickets.com/venues/opera-house-manchester/