I had one of those "God, I feel kind of old moments" on Tuesday. I had tickets to see The B-52's at the House of Blues here in Cleveland, and I realized that it's been 16 years since the last time The B's and I saw each other.
I was in high school in 1992 that summer. We assembled the largest group of friends that I can remember ever going to see a show with, to go see The B-52's, on a co-headlining tour with the Violent Femmes at Blossom Music Center. The group had lost founding member Cindy Wilson, who had retired from life on the road, and though their new album at the time Good Stuff was indeed quite good, it lacked a bit of the spark provided by the dynamic duo that was Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson.
16 years later, Cindy has been back with The B-52's for a number of years, and the band finally have released the very excellent Funplex album. If you were wondering if The B's still had a good album left in them, Funplex answers that question with a resounding YES. Currently, The B-52's are in the midst of a short tour of small hall shows that brought the band to Cleveland for a sold out date at the House of Blues.
It was pure magic.
Pierson, if you can believe it, had just celebrated her 60th birthday two days prior to the House of Blues show, and you'd never know it. Many a fan in attendance could be heard discussing the hotness of Pierson, and debating between Pierson and Wilson, as to who was the "hotter of the two" back in the day. Meanwhile, Fred Schneider looked as usual like he might have just stepped off of one of the UFO spaceships that have been sung about so often in the B-52's song history. As for guitarist Keith Strickland, he did a great job of being almost the "quiet Beatle" of The B-52's — his usual role.
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