It’s “Hip to be Square”, sang Huey Lewis in 1986 – a lyric that springs to mind on arrival in Henley on Thames for Rewind, the 1980s festival. Serried SUVs in the car park, gas barbecues beneath candy-striped gazebos erected outside tents with more floor space than my London flat and I’ve a definite feeling we’re not in Glastonbury anymore.
It’s difficult to strive for that elusive “cool” when Nik Kershaw is on the bill – thankfully no one here even bothers to try. Ironically, this complete lack of pretension, coupled with a soundtrack that predates adult worries about mortgage rates and university tuition fees, means that Rewind, in all its arch-camp glory, has, almost by default, become the coolest festival of the summer.
For those like me, who hated school to the point where even attending became a chore, pop music provided salvation. Good music (of all genres) still does. Rewind provides redemption of another kind: a chance to re-live the school disco secure in the knowledge that things will (mostly) turn out OK. The group of tattooed testosterone-fuelled Brummies in the next-door tent look like the kind of boys who would have made the class poofter’s life a misery at school. Yet look at them now, sporting comedy wigs that wouldn’t look out of place at a Gay Pride march. It’s worth the admission price to know that people really can change.
The first opportunity to see if you can dance in those box-fresh wellies is provided by the Real Thing (founded in 1970) with “You to Me are Everything” and “Can’t Get by Without You” reminding the audience that there were also black people making music in Liverpool.
A bearded Nick Heywood leads Haircut 100 on stage. “Love plus One,” with its synthesised marimbas sounds as fresh as ever and “Fantastic Day” does exactly what it says on the tin. Heywood is the perfect example of a remarkably average ’80s singer who has blossomed into a very good one in later life. He is followed by Billy Ocean, who has evolved over the same period from a good singer to being a truly great one. The programme notes tell us that he is the biggest-selling British black male pop star of all time. It’s easy to understand why. Another performer who has come on leaps and bounds is Howard Jones, who has added muscle and movement to his brand of wimpy synth music.
All day I have run into groups of dragged-up Village People fans – moustachioed men (and women) wearing a riot of sailor suits, “Red” Indian headdresses and hard hats. If these fans could only sing, they could easily pass for the latest incarnation of the Village People franchise. Of course, the Village People are beyond criticism, just as they are beyond parody, so I won’t bother. Suffice to say that they went down a storm with the audience, less well with journalists on being told they were not allowed to ask the VP “any gay questions”. Talk about ungrateful.
An artist with no such concerns was Saturday’s headlining act, Holly Johnson. I recently ran into Holly at a friend’s birthday party and was taken aback by how well he looked. As a result, I couldn’t wait to hear his performance and he didn’t disappoint. Dressed in sparkly black jeans and a monochrome leather jacket, Holly put his all into “Relax”, a seminal 80s number one, and was rewarded for his efforts by an ecstatic audience. “The Power of Love,” a Christmas hit which sounded slightly incongruous on a warm August evening, signalled the start of the pyrotechnics and an end to a truly fantastic day.
Sunday kicked off with a humorous welcome from Scousers China Crisis. Although their blend of understated synth pop was clearly missing a live oboe, they set the stage nicely for Earth Wind and Fire who left no doubt that, musically at least, they are a class apart from any of the acts heard so far. If reggae was ever written with a (white) Henley audience in mind, you can be sure that Ali Campbell of UB40 had something to do with it.
Every festival springs a surprise or two. Rewind’s first comes with Toyah, who leapt on stage and almost out of her original 80s outfit with an energy belying her 53 years. The hits, “It’s a Mystery” and “I Want to be Free”, cap an astonishing performance. Backstage Toyah revealed her plan. ‘I wanted to surprise people by not surprising them at all’. It worked. She then proves her professional mettle by posing for photographs with fans who have paid for a queue-free bar and clean toilets in the VIP area.
As if to claim Sunday for the girls, a simply stunning Kim Wilde put in another crowd-pleasing performance, rolling back the years with none of the shyness that afflicted her live performance at the beginning of her career, setting the stage perfectly for the Human League. This year’s headliners were allocated a whole hour and had no difficulty filling it. Yet again a woman stole the show. As Phil Oakey asked: “Don’t You Want Me?”, Susan Sulley arched her finely-pencilled eyebrows, as if contemplating the question, before deciding that, after 30 years, she really quite likes being a pop star after all.
Thank goodness for that, for the house band who played for up to five hours a day, and for all the site staff and performers who continue to make Rewind the most fun I’ve had in a field since…
