Shoot that poison arrow to my heart...

Check off yet another 80's band that I've finally gotten to see live and up-close: ABC, known for hits through the early to mid-eighties like "Poison Arrow," "The Look of Love," "Be Near Me," and the masterful Motown tribute "When Smokey Sings." (Note: if you're one of the readers who is currently or was one of my students, you are required to go watch each of the music videos linked to this page. It'll help you understand that wonderful, weird time that the 80's were If you're an adult, go check 'em out for nostalgia's sake - they're still just as cool as they were 20 years ago). They played at the wonderfully funky Aladdin Theatre in Portland, where I've also seen Brian Wilson and my favorite underrated North Carolina band, the late, lamented Connells. At any rate, ABC is now just two of the original members: the vocalist, Martin Fry, and original drummer David Palmer (who hadn't played with Martin in over twenty years until a reunion via VH-1 a couple years ago).

In the days of touring for "The Lexicon of Love," their debut album in '82, the band would all dress in tuxedoes, while Martin would wear a gold lame' suit (you can see it in the video for "Poison Arrow " over at YouTube). In keeping with this notion of elegance, the band decreed that everyone associated with the Lexicon tour be thusly dressed. Everybody. This is why, probably for the first and last time in the history of pop music, roadies carting amps and guitars were wearing tuxedoes rather than jeans and old ratty Led Zeppelin t-shirts.
At last Sunday's show at the Aladdin, there was nary a tux to be seen, but lead singer Martin was decked out in a pretty freaking cool sharkskin suit that shimmered and shone. Despite the years, he was in excellent form vocally and in terms of showmanship. The twenty-odd years since the debut of "Lexicon" have robbed him of some of the higher notes of his register, but these were taken care of handily by myself and the rest of the fans packed at the stage. I stayed right at the footlights for the entire show, and got the photos that accompany this post.


"Shoot that poison arrow to my ha-ha-heart..."


"If you judge a book by the cover, then you judge the look by the lover. I hope you soon recover - me, I go from one extreme to another."
Original ABC drummer David Palmer.

"When Smokey sings...I hear violins. When Smokey sings...I forget everything."