With the Orange County Fair in full swing, a lineup of legendary bands, and the summer sun blazing, the concert was destined to have a packed house.
The event featured legends from similar, but different genres, with music that compliments each other well. Performing live were Save Ferris, new wave ‘80s and ska icons English Beat, and ‘80s L.A. punk legends X.
Save Ferris kicked off the night with an upbeat song, “Turn it Up,” as the crowd was beginning to enter the venue. On the next song, “Little Differences,” Save Ferris singer Monique Powell, came out shaking her tassel dress and banging to the rhythm of the song on her tambourine. It didn’t take too long for the crowd to fill in and Powell told the audience they could call her, “Mo.” She asked the audience, “How many of you are experiencing your first Save Ferris show?” As some in the audience raised their hands, she said, “Wow, there are so many of you! Nice to meet everyone! I have a feeling that by the end of the show, we will be good friends.”
After the ‘90s-radio hit song, “The World is New,” Save Ferris ended their set with a cover of Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ “Come on Eileen.” It was a great, high-energy performance to get the night started.
SAVE FERRIS | Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
In English Beat fashion, current toast man Antonee First Class hyped the crowd up exclaiming their singer, Dave Wakeling, is “the original singer, the original writer, the original player. Make some noise!”
ENGLISH BEAT | Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
For the next song, Wakeling said, “Guess what? I just heard the name of your best friend, that’s what,” as he led into “Best Friend.”
Antonee was back on the mic with a cool flashback to the ‘80s saying, “Does anyone remember the 1 9 8 0, California help, me out and say YO, I remember when I was small and used to watch ‘Rocky’ and also ‘Rambo,’ ‘Dallas’ and ‘Dynasty’ and daddy watching ‘Columbo,’ but my favorite show was ‘Hawaii Five-0,’” and Wakeling quipped, “If you actually remember the ‘80s, you weren’t doing it right!”
ENGLISH BEAT | Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
The English Beat then went into their ska song “Hands Off… She’s Mine,” keeping the energy going. Before getting into his next song, Wakeling said, “I can’t thank you enough for bringing me back to the OC Fair,” and went into his General Public mega hit, “Tenderness.” The audience stood up and got their phones out to capture the moment.
The English Beat had the near-capacity crowd dancing with “Save it for Later,” and later, Wakeling had a sentimental moment, saying “life goes by so fast” and he misses his band members that passed away, including Rankin’ Roger. Wakeling told the story of meeting Smokey Robinson and how he used to sing along to his songs, how Robinson had a “voice like an angel, and if he could sing like that then he might be an angel too, and he gave me a hug, a lovely hug!” They started Robison’s “Tears of a Clown” and kept the crowd dancing.
They finished off their set, just as the sun set, with the legendary song, “Mirror in the Bathroom.” English Beat did a great job of blending the high-energy elements of their two-tone ska sound while getting the crowd to into a skankin’ kinda mood.
Up next were punk legends X, creators of several great rock songs, both old and new. They hit the stage with “In This House That I Call Home” with John Doe leading on vocal and bass guitar through the verses, with Exene Cervenka chiming in on the chorus, and Billy Zoom ripping the guitar riffs from a stool.
X | Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
Their next song, “We’re Desperate,” went back to their punk roots with Cervenka going back to lead vocals, alternating with Doe through verses and chorus.
At this point, the venue looked about as packed as it could get, but the audience was fairly mild for a punk show. However, it didn’t take long for the energy in the audience to pick up when X went into their mega hit song, “Los Angeles,” with the audience standing up, clapping, and dancing in their seats.
X | Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
After “Breathless,” Doe stated the next song was going to be a sad song for anyone that is in love, and he believed that everyone should be able to love anyone they want, and they went into “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes.”
On the next song, Doe asked if the light man could “bring the lights down real low and make it kind of intimate on this next song; you know, mood lighting for 5,000 people.” He continued, “I’m going to imagine everyone slow dancing, because this is a slow dance song,” and X went into “Come Back to Me.”
X | Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
As guitarist Billy Zoom got up from the stool to play the saxophone, Doe said the next one goes out to “the people on strike” and played “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts.” X finished their set with “Devil Doll” and thanked Save Ferris and The English Beat for their performances.
X came back on for two encore songs and thanked the audience and Cervenka said I hope to see you again.”
X | Photo by John Gilhooley Photography
Three killer sets from three amazing bands. We are fortunate in that these bands play in the area regularly, so keep on watching their calendars.
