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New Wave’s Night Out at House of Blues Anaheim
May 7th, 2026 by Shane Pase
There’s a moment at these ‘80s new wave bills — and if you’ve been to one in the last few years you know exactly what I’m talking about — where the room just locks in. Doesn’t matter if the person next to you was alive for the original run or just discovered this music through a playlist or a parent’s old mixtape. The energy levels out, and suddenly everyone’s in it together. That moment is coming to House of Blues Anaheim on July 23rd, and the Totally Tubular Festival this summer looks like one of the better lineups we’ve seen for it.
Let’s talk about the bill, because it’s loaded.
You open with Tommy Tutone, and Tommy Heath and company have one of the most instantly recognizable hooks in pop history — you know it, everyone knows it — and they’re a genuinely fun live band with real power pop chops. Good energy, good hang. Then The Escape Club jumps in, and if you’re sleeping on “Wild Wild West,” please fix that before July 23rd.
Animotion rounds out the earlier part of the evening with some synth-forward energy. “Obsession” still hits harder than it has any right to, and their live show brings that intensity right into the room.
By the time The Motels hit, the room is going to be ready. Martha Davis still commands a stage with real authority; “Only the Lonely” lands differently live, heavier somehow, and that’s a good thing.
Then Flock of Seagulls takes over, and this is a band worth paying attention to beyond the obvious entry points. “Space Age Love Song” is as pretty and melancholy as anything the era produced, “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)” is a legitimate anthem, and live they bring a depth that reminds you just how much this band had going on musically.
Then there’s Thomas Dolby and the Lost Toy People closing it all out, and this is where the night reaches another level entirely. Dolby has always occupied a unique space in the new wave world — part pop craftsman, part sonic experimenter, with a restless intelligence that runs through everything he’s made.
“She Blinded Me with Science” put him on the map, but albums like “The Flat Earth” and “Aliens Ate My Buick” showed an artist willing to push well past the boundaries of what new wave radio expected from him. Backed by the Lost Toy People, his live show pulls from across that whole arc. Familiar moments land with the weight of songs you’ve loved for decades, and the deeper cuts reward anyone who’s spent real time with his catalog.
The broader thing worth saying is that this ‘80s new wave resurgence isn’t really a resurgence at the core level — these artists never fully went away. What has changed is the audience.
The shows have been packed, and it’s a gloriously mixed crowd; those who remember the purple can of Aquanet, bottles of Bartles and Jaymes, the clove cigarettes burning on the patio, and the jazz shoes that somehow went with everything, standing alongside a younger generation discovering all of this for the first time and wondering how they almost missed it. That mix makes for a livelier room than a purely nostalgic crowd ever could, and House of Blues Anaheim is a great room for it — not so big you lose the intimacy, not so small you can’t actually move.
July 23rd should be a solid night. Give yourself some extra time to get in.
TO FOLLOW
SID 260508 | TRACI TURNER | EDITOR
