Review By: Ian Howie-Lee & Catherine Collins – Photo Credit: Kate Hunter Photography
Thousands of revellers once again descended on Southampton Common yesterday for the return of retro ‘80s festival, Let’s Rock, with headline performances from Soft Cell and Boomtown Rats.
There were ‘80s costumes and neon galore, and despite a soggy start to the day in the queue, the weather warmed up as quick as the festival did – as Heatwave kicked off the day with Poison and ended their set with Boogie Nights.
Blancmange kept the crowd going with classics Living on the Ceiling and Don’t Tell Me, before Janet Kay, Odyssey, Hollywood Beyond, and Neal X of Sigue Sigue Sputnik took their turn on stage.
The unmistakable sounds of Livin’ Joy had the crowd bouncing to 90s’ dance hits, Don’t Stop Movin and Dreamer.
Hue & Cry opened their lunchtime set with Looking for Linda, and Sinitta – looking amazing at 59 – raised the bar with her energy filled routines as she sang So Macho, Right Back Where We Started From, and Toy Boy – though her audience was now of a slightly more mature age.
As the sun shone Neville Staple, The Farm, and Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats) continued the afternoon performances with some of their songs, such as Gangsters, All Together Now, and a cover of C’mon Everybody.
Then it was the turn of Heaven 17, who were excellent as they carried the audience through the late afternoon with renditions of Come Live With Me, Temptation, and their cover of Let’s Dance had festival-goers dancing along.
The heavens opened just as Go West took the stage, but it didn’t dampen the crowd as they belted out Call Me, Don’t Look Down and We Close Our Eyes along with Peter Cox.
Nathan Moore from Brother Beyond always gets the crowd going, and the weather wasn’t stopping him, as he engaged with a soaked audience before the rain finally stopped in time for Kim Wilde and hits, Kids in America and You Keep Me Hanging On.
Penultimate act, The Boomtown Rats were in fine form, and Sir Bob Geldof performed crowd pleaser Rat Trap, and of course, I Don’t like Mondays – it felt like they should have been the headliner by the crowd’s reaction!.
Finally, as the day came to an end, Soft Cell took the stage to close the show – playing for a little under an hour and finishing with crowd favourite, Tainted Love.
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See our Let’s Rock photo gallery: