The eighties. It was the time when fashion sense went out of the window, electronic music was as simple as your nephew’s casio keyboard, and we all had a dark rebellious sense of humor. Fantastic. No matter how much we look back and laugh about our big hair, shiny accessories and full color make up; the eighties remain legendary.

Each of us has our own little happy memory about the 80’s, so when I heard that Hard Rock FM’s Fun After Six was gonna feature a band called ‘Clubeighties’, I just had to be there.
That night, Hard Rock Café was filled with Hard Rock Radio’s fans who’d come also for the launch of the station’s change of frequency (from 87,6 FM into 87’8 FM). After some games, quizzes, free t-shirt throwing and fashion shows ala Hard Rock Radio, it was finally time for this Jakarta based band to hit the stage at 11 PM.

The crowd’s anticipation towards the band was unique, being the majority of them are breaker boys. Yes that’s right, in this new millennium, we still have boys who continue the tradition of break-dance I(called ‘tari kejang’ in bahasa), which was of course huge in the eighties. While we waited for Clubeighties to start their set, the breakers quickly formed a big circle in front of the stage. DJ Wilson was spinning some hot hip-hop while one by one; the boys entertained us with their hard-core break skills in the middle of the circle. Even some lost tourist from Taiwan decided to participate.

Not a bad move for an F4 look-alike.
Finally, Clubeighties hit the stage, kicking off with a sweet pop song called Primadonna, taken from their debut album Clubeighties. 5 boys in 80’s costumes rockin’ the stage while the breakers went mad. Singer Lembu gave a better performance than the last time I saw him years ago (but what’s up with those black shades he never takes off?) The rest of the band were also stunning, delivering a high energy performance and jumping around like they were Duracell bunnies.

An old 80’s song followed Primadonna , one by our very own Anggun, back then when she was still wearing big hair and leather jackets. Called Mengaku Bujangan (You Said You Were Single). The crowd got kind of hysterical with this one, dancing and singing along with the band through the whole song. After flinging some of the band’s stickers into the crowd, Clubeighties continues the concert with Sebatas Khayal (Only In My Fantasy), and in the middle of the song, Lembu made a joke saying that the governor of Bali was there, while saying hi to a guy who looked like he could well be that esteemed gentleman. A cover of Karma Chameleon from the infamous 80’s icon Culture Club came next.

After a new song from their second album 1982 and another cover of 80’s Indo icon Gombloh’s Madu dan Racun (Honey and Poison), Clubeighties wrapped things up with their most well known hit song called Gita Cinta. This happy, synth pop song had the crowd slam dancing – a perfect way to end this evening of 80’s madness,/MK