Totally Tubular Festival 2026 @ Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre 07.26.2026

If you’ve never attended a day festival where six or seven bands are scheduled to play in a tight four-hour window, you might be shocked when the band you’ve waited a decade to see takes the stage, plays two or three of their most popular songs with an album track or forgotten single stuck in between for variety, and quickly rushes off, never to be heard from again.

These festivals are like jukebox musicals in the fact that they barely feature much of a narrative, but they do manage to squeeze more hit songs into 240 minutes than you’d get from listening to nostalgia radio. Yes, you can check off another entry on the bucket list, but if it’s a full show you’re looking for, you won’t even get that from the headliner. It’s bang for your buck. The quality? It depends on what you’re looking for.

Tonight we begin with Tommy Tutone, best known for “867-5309/Jenny.” The band manages to work on a cover of “Wild World,” their first single, “Angel Say No,” along with “Which Man Are You” and “Cheap Date” before closing with their signature song. The band is tight, but lead vocalist Tommy Heath sounds a bit rough.

After a 10-minute changeover, The Escape Club took to the stage with the sounds of “Shake for the Sheik” before slowing things down for the 1991 single “I’ll Be There.” The set concludes with their massive hit “Wild, Wild West.” Vocalist Trevor Steel sounds exactly like he did in 1986. I’ve never considered myself a fan, but I wouldn’t have minded another song or two.

Next is Animotion, who I am seeing for the first time. It’s all singles for Astrid Plane and Bill Wadhams and their backing band. First “Let Him Go,” then “Room to Move” and finally “Obsession.” It’s a bit cheesy to watch Plane and Wadhams lean into the bawdiness of “Obsession,” but there’s a tongue firmly planted in their cheek throughout it all.

The Producers were a band I knew nothing about. I’d never heard them, and considering their salad days were in and around 1982, it’s not a huge surprise. I would have been preoccupied with E.T. at that time. Their four-song set includes “Back to Basics,” “Certain Kinda Girl,” “What’s He Got” and wraps up with “She Sheila.” It’s not my thing. I do, however, see how they could have opened for bands like The Cars or The Call.

Bow Wow Wow introduced a decidedly new element into the show. It’s not that they don’t fit the bill — they certainly do. But to this point, we’ve been presented with polished pop songs. Except for “I Want Candy,” which is a cover. Bow Wow Wow’s material is not what I would call commercial. It’s spiky, with rough edges. “W.O.R.K. (N.O. Nah No! No! My Daddy Don’t)” rattles. Even “Do You Wanna Hold Me?” feels hazardous tonight. Just like “Baby, Oh No!” starts, I’m beginning to wish Adam Ant was waiting in the wings. He wasn’t. It all comes together for “I Want Candy.”

The crowd at this point is legitimately drained. Though they try to match the energy of the artists, the heat is too much to ignore completely. I somewhat expect the crowd to sit throughout A Flock of Seagulls.

They don’t.

A Flock of Seagulls offer up a six-song set that mixes old and recent tracks. It starts with the classic “The More You Live, the More You Love” before making way for newer songs “Him,” “Some Dreams” and “Lovers and Strangers.” The set closes out with “Space Age Love Song” and “I Ran.” Singer/keyboardist Mike Score sounds a bit gruff, and the snare drum is shrill to the point of overpowering the other instruments. I’ve heard them sound far better.

Having found a nice seat in the shade, I’ve spent most of the show at a distance. With the sun setting, I make my way down to the side of the stage that serves as something of a dance floor. Thomas Dolby is the primary reason I’m here.

Dolby’s set is a bit eclectic. There’s a good reason for that. As he explains, when he was asked to headline this year’s festival, he wanted to put together a show that was unique. So he reached into the past and reformed The Lost Toy People, the backing band responsible for the Aliens Ate My Buick album.

Though he opens with “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” the bulk of the night is dedicated to—and stylistically influenced by — the jazz and soul sound of Aliens. This means we’re offered songs that aren’t typically in the set, including “The Key to Her Ferrari,” “Hot Sauce,” “Airhead,” “Pulp Culture,” “My Brain Is Like a Sieve” and “May the Cube Be with You.”

Dolby explains that he is performing many of these tracks on this tour for the first time since they were played at Depeche Mode’s legendary 101 concert. He even dusted off the old Stephen Sprouse suit that he wore at the time. Some might recognize the look from Dead or Alive’s Nude era, when Pete Burns wore a similar one for much of the album’s photography.

I would have loved to hear “One of Our Submarines,” but I’ll admit that it didn’t really fit the mood. Nor did “Close but No Cigar” or “I Love You Goodbye.” What we did get was a set that closed with “She Blinded Me with Science” and “Hyperactive!” — and that sent the weary crowd home happy.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting a jazz-driven set, but I really enjoyed it. It stood out as a reminder of just how diverse the 1980s were — and how easily we tend to pigeonhole the decade today.

Photos courtesy of Kevin Rolfe

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