There's some Talk Talk of a band called The Psychedelic Furs

Here's how I remember it: 

                                                   Psychedelic Furs on Spanish TV 1984

Summer of 1982, my 14th year. Mike Wassenaar and Mike McClellan started a Friday night show on KBEM called Ready Steady Go. That show turned me on to a lot of bands that became lifelong favorites. I remember hearing the Psychedelic Furs being played, but there were so many other cool songs being played I think I put them on the back burner.

 

A few months later, after I started as a freshman at North High (coincidentally the same place they broadcast RSG from), one of my new friends KT said "there's a band we like that's gonna be on King Biscuit tomorrow but I can't remember who it is. But I know we both like them so you need to listen."

I took her up and was happy to find out it was The Psychedelic Furs. I remember listening to it while soaking in the bathtub. I was sold, and went out to find their records the next day. Sadly I had no luck finding any.

 

In 1984 I was dating An(gie) Archy and we heard that the Furs were coming to town to play at the Orpheum Theater. Their previous appearance was at First Ave and I was too young to get in, so I wasn't going to miss this show! Then we found out Talk Talk was the opener and were doubly stoked. Talk Talk's self-titled 5 song EP was a very firm favorite of mine and Billy's, and evidently they had a full length album out and were touring with the Furs to promote it.

 

Day of show, July 28 1984 for those keeping score, and the plan was that I was going to hang out at Northern Lights Records where the Furs were going to be signing records and such, then bus it back home and head to the show a little later. An(gie) and her 2 friends were going to meet me downtown a few hours before the concert and we'd bum around the record store and Slice Of New York pizza. My folks were out of town for some reason or another, so I was left to my own devices and decisions, and my schedule belonged to no one but me.

 

When I entered Northern Lights Music there were more people in there than I had seen before, and a few extra people behind the counter. I recognized Richard Butler, singer of The Psychedelic Furs, by the throngs of people that were clamoring for his attention.

I grabbed a copy of Forever Now (they were touring for the Mirror Moves album, but I wanted Forever Now instead). There was a guy in sunglasses sitting in the window behind the counter looking like he was in his own world, a world where no one was bothering him. It was John Ashton, The Furs' guitar player.  I walked over and politely said "You look like you're not having fun", to which he replied that the singer always gets all the attention and he's used to being in the background.  I took the shrink wrap off the album I had just bought and asked him to sign it for me. When he was done he asked if I wanted him to push thru the crowd and get Richard to sign it. I declined his offer, and said that his (Ashton's) autograph was good enough.  He smiled and thanked me for being a fan, and with that I hopped a bus back home.

I got home, put my newly-autographed Furs album on the turntable and leisurely got ready for The Big Rock Concert.  Dressed in my best New Wave togs consisting of black nylon parachute pants and a leopard print t-shirt under a vintage 60's black suit jacket, I hopped another bus downtown.

Angie and her friends met at the pre-arranged time, but informed me that one of them had left her ticket at home so they had to bus it back to their house, grab the ticket, and bus it back. I said that I didn't want to risk missing any of Talk Talk's set so I would just meet them inside the theater.

With 2+ hours to kill I started wandering around City Center, watching all the "normal" people go about their shopping and whatever else normies did.  Making my way to the food court, I walked past a teeny-bopper shop, I think it was called Claire's, or maybe it was a Two + Two... anyway, they had a sign in the window saying "free ear piercing with purchase of stud, MUST BE 18 OR ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT".  Thinking I had nothing to lose, I went in and said I wanted my ear pierced. The girl at the counter, not much older than I was, had me pick out a nice faux ruby piercing stud. She loaded it into the gun, and a few seconds later I had my left ear pierced*. As I was paying my $4.50 the girl asked "you ARE over 18, right?" and handed me a release form exonerating the store from any kind of deformity that may have occurred from them ripping a hole through my virgin ear lobe. I signed the form, said "of COURSE I'm over 18!" and walked out. Again, for those keeping core, I was 16.

As nothing in the food court seemed too appealing, I sauntered over to Slice Of New York and waited for the girls to show up.  With about 20 minutes to spare they finally showed up and we headed over to the concert.

Talk Talk were amazing, with a stage set-up similar to the set of the video for their song Talk Talk, stark whites, white lighting, and white clothing to match.  I REALLY enjoyed their set.

After the curtain went down and the lights came up from Talk Talk's performance I pointed out my new body mod to An(gie), thinking I was a tough guy now, but she seemed pretty nonplussed. With no time to convince her how much of a badass I was, the lights went down and The Psychedelic Furs took the stage.  They, too, were amazing. I remember Richard Butler spinning around in circles during "Heaven" like in the video. When the show was over I bought a Psychedelic Furs t-shirt and a button set (I still have one of the buttons).

One of the girls had the idea of going behind the theater to see if we could catch any of the Furs as they were leaving. Sure enough, parked in the back of the theater was a huge tour bus. We waited for a few minutes, hoping that the Furs would come out, but sadly they never did.  However, the members of Talk Talk DID come out, and when they saw us waiting by their bus they seemed genuinely taken aback. Mark Hollis, the singer (RIP), made small talk with us, then said "hang on a sec, I've got stuff in the bus for you". He came back out with some posters and record flats (front covers of record albums used as promotional giveaways and window dressing), and he and the rest of the band signed them all and handed them to us.  They then said they had to be going, and thanked us again for coming to the concert.

With that the girls and I said our goodbyes and I jumped the bus home, smiling from ear to painful ear.

*this was 1984, a time when which ear a male had pierced still denoted their sexual preference.  If a guy had his right ear pierced it meant he was "funny".

MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO GRACIAS to Ron Clark for providing the photos of the in-store!!!