Last week singer SJ Bravo, and my new synth bro and 80s dancer Jean Frais, joined me on stage for a night of 80s awesomeness at Retro Future Fest 3.
We packed into the graffiti covered arches by Waterloo Station in London, with hundreds of synthwave, new retro wave and 80s fans dancing, gaming and glowing the night away.
Setting the scene were cardboard arcade machines from Unstable King, who got me to sign the back of one!
On the merch stands you could get light up sunglasses, artist's vinyl (including mine!) and sweet manga/anime 80s t-shirts from my fellow 80s friend, artist Mizucat (you can see me wearing one of the Mizucat t-shirts in the photos and videos from the night on my Instagram).
On the night, I performed new unreleased material, including an unreleased funky pop jam with SJBRAVO called "Cold Hearted". We also performed Runaway, our emotional ballad featured on my debut Graduation.
Later in the set, the talented Jean Frais, a musician and dancer, joined me on stage to recreate the iconic, and memed hard, Jean Claude Van Damme Kickboxer dance along to a live performance of Venice Beach, feat Phaserland.
Jean then quickly changed into a leotard to lead the crowd in 80s aerobics along to my track Night Swim (featured in the Friday the 13th The Game trailer) and gave away copies of Graduation on vinyl to fans who were sweating it out the hardest!
Also playing that night, were my pals Duett and Stuart Lockwood. There were insane performances from bands Maxthor and LeBrok. Vincenzo Salvia (who recently had a track featured on Stranger Things 3) brought down the house. Makeup and Vanity Set, Starcadian and Danger took it dark and heavy, and the amazing DJ She Ra kept the night together with DJ mixes between acts and compered the night, introducing all the artists specially playing St Elmo's Fire before my set to get the crowd pumped.
It was an awesome night and I want to thank everyone who made it happen. The night couldn't have taken place without the hard work of volunteers manning merch stands, Tim and his arcade machines, and of course, the members of the synthwave community who financed the evening.
These events can cost tens of thousands to put on, take a huge amount of work, time and effort, and often there are people who never get thanked, or are too busy working on the night to even enjoy the fruits of their labour.
Synthwave fans and artists, let's never take these events for granted. It's a small community with just a handful of incredible people giving everything to organise and bankroll these unforgettable nights.
I hope to see you all in Amsterdam for Night Arcade 1984 at Melkweg on October 5th when me and SJ Bravo will be playing again. So if you missed the set in London, you can still grab tickets for this one.
