From a Musical perspective, the 2018 State Fair with bow out with a Fireworks display of it’s own so big, it will cover both sides of the Atlantic. The US will be represented by the B-52s and Boy George and Culture Club, and Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey holding down the UK side of the equation. This happens on Monday 9/3 and some tickets are still available HERE
Formed in 1981 in London, England, synth-pop band Culture Club is composed of lead vocalist Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss. The iconic group has sold more than 50 million albums and 100 million singles worldwide. International hits include “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” “Time (Clock of the Heart),” “Karma Chameleon” and many more. The group’s second album, Colour by Numbers, sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and is considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. “Karma Chameleon” became the biggest selling single of 1983, and in 1984, Culture Club won a Grammy award for Best New Artist. Instrumental in new wave music and a massive part of the British rock invasion in the ‘80s, Boy George and Culture Club tour the globe performing their genre-bending smash hits.
It is well known that the B-52s are The World’s Greatest Party Band. And nearly 40 years and more than 20 million albums into their career, there can be no doubt as to why they remain one of rock music’s most beloved and enduring bands. Any mystery concerning the band’s longevity and ongoing appeal is immediately solved when exposed to a B-52s concert experience. From groundbreaking songs like “Rock Lobster,” “Dance This Mess Around” and “Private Idaho,” to chart-topping hits like “Love Shack” and “Roam” and “Deadbeat Club,” to their thrilling reemergence on the pop scene with their 2008 CD Funplex, the B-52s’ unforgettable dance-rock tunes start a party every time their music begins.
Formed on an October night in 1976 following drinks at an Athens, GA, Chinese restaurant, the band played their first gig at a friend’s house on Valentine’s Day 1977. Naming themselves after Southern slang for exaggerated ‘bouffant’ hairdos, the newly-christened B-52s (Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson and Ricky Wilson) began weekend road trips to New York City for gigs at CBGB’s and a handful of other venues. Before long, their thrift store aesthetic and genre-defying songs were the talk of the post-punk underground. A record deal soon followed and their self-titled debut disc, produced by Chris Blackwell, sold more than 500,000 copies on the strength of their first singles, the garage rock party classic “Rock Lobster,” and “52 Girls.” The B-52s began to attract fans far beyond the punk clubs of the Lower East Side — galvanizing the pop world with their ‘stream-of-consciousness’ approach to songwriting and outrageous performance. They had clearly tapped into a growing audience for new music that was much larger than anyone could have anticipated.
As they take their party-music revolution into the 21st century the B-52s show no signs of slowing down, serving up their own unique blend of music and showmanship to millions of fans around the world.
Formed in 1977 in the United Kingdom, Thompson Twins are known for its new wave, synth-pop sound. The group’s first No. 1 hit in the U.S. was “In The Name of Love” off the album Set. The band continued its international success in 1983 with “Lies” and “Love On Your Side,” which was their first U.K. Top 10 single. Further top hits that year included “We Are Detective” and “Watching,” followed by “Hold Me Now.” That smash hit became the band’s biggest seller and reached No. 3 in the U.S. 1984’s Into the Gap sold 5 million copies worldwide, and the group continued to release albums and hit singles throughout the ‘80s. Tom Bailey, Thompson Twins’ original lead vocalist and bassist, tours internationally performing the band’s iconic songs.
