ABC Live in Toronto at Pride Sunday June 28, 2009

Having been really young when ABC put out their first single I was quite excited about the opportunity to check them out live about 30 years later. On arrival I just caught the tail end of another 80s ikon Wang Chung. Was always a big fan of their track Dance Hall Days but you can have Everybody Have Fun Tonight. Of course, I was unlucky enough to catch only the latter track.

Check out Dance Hall Days here:
Dance Hall Days Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ernCPFVe8wU

ABC were next to take to the stage. I keep on forgeting we are all getting older. Martin Fry, lead singer of the band is 51. Dressed in a suit, he said a quick hello and said he was going to run through his 80s catalog. No other original members are still part of the band. He dropped right into Poison Arrow.

The following was the set list which went heavy on their early career and avoided the later stuff completely (They have nine albums). Alot of good singles missed including one of my favourites Vanity Kills. The set was maybe about 4o minutes and had no encores. ABC released a new album last year called Traffic, their first album in 11 years and he played one track off of it but surprisingly not the first single.

Poison Arrow (Lexicon Of Love - 1st album)
How To Be A Millionaire (How To Be A Zillionaire - 3rd album)
Ride (Traffic - 9th album)
All Of My Heart (Lexicon Of Love - 1st album)
Forever Together (?-New Song-?)
Tears Are Not Enough (Lexicon Of Love - 1st album)
Be Near Me (How To Be A Zillionaire - 3rd album)
When Smokey Sings (Alphabet City - 4th album)
Look Of Love (Lexicon Of Love - 1st album)

Actually I found out that all these bands that performed Sunday afternoon as part of Pride was not by coincidence. They are all currently on tour as part of A Regeneration Tour across North America with ABC headlining. Also included on top of ABC, Wang Chung are Missing Persons, Cutting Crew, and Terri Nunn of Berlin. This was the shame that Terri Nunn didn't make the Canadian date. Loved Berlin and their classics including No More Words, and Sex (I'm A).

I'll leave you with the classic video for Look Of Love. Cannot embed unfortunately due to the record company but click to get the youtube video. Classic video

Look Of Love Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkwEK9AYQHg