If John Hughes deejayed your bat mitzvah in 1983, it would sound a lot like the Totally Tubular Festival did at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Friday night. What an incredibly fun walk (like an Egyptian) down memory lane it was.
It felt like the 1980s were no longer “A Million Miles Away" in the rearview, as the opening band the Plimsouls sang in that forever fabulous song that will always make me think of how hot young Nicolas Cage was in Valley Girl. With seven bands on the bill, the sets were short but oh-so-sweet, and everyone leaned into their hits, as expected.
There was no coyness about waiting for the crowd to go crazy and then granting an encore here.