Music industry icon Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson serves as your master of ceremonies for an excellent adventure into the past in search of the ultimate ‘80s party playlist.
Almost The Greatest Gig On Earth puts some of the country’s best tribute acts live onstage for a day-long celebration of the undisputed party decade, the ‘80s. “We’ve got two, big words on our office wall when it comes to this project, and that's ‘quality’ and ‘fun’. That’s what we’ve set out to do,” Ian says.
“Basically, if you were getting your rocks off in the ‘80s this is potentially going to be a whole day of the soundtrack to your glory years, reminding you of when you were hot stuff.”
Like the ‘80s itself, this gig is all about going big, featuring only the biggest hits from the biggest artists in what Ian calls “a perfect storm of guilty pleasure”.
“It’s put together in five different sets and each set represents about seven different tributes; some of them go from four songs, to two songs, to one song, so it’s pretty pacey [sic],” he explains.
“The idea is that we present the ‘80s in all its glory with all the boring bits taken out; it’s really pacey [sic] with high production values, amazing musicianship, fantastic performances and lots of fun. We want this to be as uncannily real as the ‘80s was.”
From AC/DC, A-Ha, Bryan Adams and Duran Duran, to Human League, INXS, Madonna, Tina Turner, WHAM and everything in-between, Almost The Greatest Gig On Earth presents a hand-picked playlist of non-stop classics. “We've curated every single song; we've done it minute by minute,” Ian says.
“Every song will be a smash, a smash international hit, and I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of people in attendance will know every single song. That's what we've tried to do is just create this unbelievable mass of fun and I guess nostalgia in some ways, but high-energy nostalgia.”
Ian is a veteran of the music industry who has worked with some of the world’s biggest labels and acts, yet at heart he is still the passionate music-lover he was as a teenager. “This is a gig I want to be at,” he enthuses.
“I love great songs and great melodies that remind me of great times, performed really well, and the fact is that most [artists] in the ‘80s are now either too old, too broken up or too dead to perform these songs in a way they need to. Even if they weren’t, there’s no way you’d get them along.”
Dicko wants to make you understand he isn’t the sort of guy to ever give you up, let you down, run around and desert you. Nor is he ever going to make you cry, say goodbye, tell a lie and hurt you – I think you can see where I’m going with this.
“You can’t have this event without Rick-rolling it so we’re going to have ‘Never Going To Give You Up’ and it’s going to be an amazing moment,” Ian chuckles.
“You could say cheesy – I prefer to say fun, really. I prefer to say uncomplicated, un-ironic fun and just letting ourselves go.”
