Review: Flock of Seagulls and When in Rome at Magic Mountain - August 8th, 2009

Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA has a history of hosting quality concerts at it's Golden Bear Theater. From Barbara Streisand to Weird Al Yankovich to W.C. Fields the park has really put together a strong history of legendary performers.

Saturday August 8th, 2009 was another great night for Golden Bear history. Flock of Seagulls played two thirty minute concerts at 6 & 8 PM. Though I only witnessed the 8 PM performance I assume the setlist was the same for both shows. Opening for Flock of Seagulls was another 80's throwback 'When in Rome'.

The 8 PM show opened with Six Flags mascot Mr. Six, a gangly-looking old man who dances to techno, came out and did his trademark techno dance. He was a smash hit and the crowd of roughly 350 people gave him a rousing ovation. Not knowing what to expect from the bands I thought to myself how funny it would be if Mr. Six upstaged both bands with his cheesy dance. It's a good thing he only performed for about two minutes.

The crowd was comprised of mostly late 30's to early 40's parents with children in tow the remainder were curious teenagers. The parents were enthusiastically sitting on the edge of their seats as their children, completely bored, fidgeted and begged to go enjoy the park's rides. Meanwhile the teenagers in attendance only knew Flock of Seagulls from the game Grand Theft Auto 3; a game that drones their hit 'I Ran' while the user is literally running people over with a car while firing a hand gun out the window.

When in Rome opened the show with a song of some sort. From where I was sitting, the second row, you could not hear the lead singer or the keyboardist. I realized the front of the stage at the Golden Bear doesn't have a PA. All I could hear was the "drummer" playing a midi drum pad(Why not just use a drum machine?) and their really lame looking guitarist, who tried really hard for about 30 minutes to make simple riffs look hard.

During their third song I moved back about 20 rows. From there I could finally hear the lead singer. They played the song 'Talk Talk' a cover of the band Talk Talk. It was ok, I guess. I wasn't really impressed. They didn't have a bassist, so I wondered if they fired their old one or if there ever was one for most of their set. They closed with 'The Promise', their only recognizable hit. I couldn't hear the keyboard and the drums were too loud. Final verdict: When in Rome Sucks.

After a brief 5 minute intermission Flock of Seagulls came out. I was immediately disappointed because the lead singer didn't have the Flock of Seagulls hairstyle. In fact he was wearing a baseball cap with a ponytail a certain sign that balding has erased the famous hair. They opened with a song I didn't recognize so my mind wondered to better 80's songs I'd rather be listening to.

After about three songs they played the first of their 3 singles I recognize: 'Space Age Love Song'. I have to admit it sounded pretty good. Flock of Seagulls comes off as a louder, more distorted band, when you see them live. I could easily imagine them opening for a band like 'The Police', very similar sound.

Next up was 'Wishing', another 80's classic. It sounded decent too. I'm not a fan of Flock of Seagulls but seeing songs live that I've heard on the radio for years was entertaining. Seeing them at Magic Mountain was a nice touch too because the park has a perminent 1970's-1980's look to it that reflects the park's evolution over time.

Lastly they played their biggest hit 'I Ran'. It was a good closer and proved that Flock of Seagulls' guitarist was  superior to When in Rome's guitarist. I was somewhat impressed and I can now understand why Flock of Seagulls became famous in the first place. They put on a quality show.

The crowd may have been small, only about 20% of the venue was full, but the show was still pretty good. I don't know if the bands enjoyed the experience but I do urge Six Flags Magic Mountain to continue booking shows of this quality and higher in the future. I really enjoyed the event and I hope the August 15th Dramarama/Berlin concert on the same stage is just as good, if not better.