Mike Score - lead vocals, keyboards; Ali Score - drums, drum programming; Frank Maudsley - bass; Paul Reynolds - guitar
It must have been quite the sight when members of A Flock of Seagulls walked through the backstage entrance of the famed Grand Ole Opry Theater in Nashville to perform this show on their 1983 U.S. tour. Granted the mostly country western music venue also presents rock and R&B concerts, but still, those good 'ole boys in the stage-hand's union must have done a double take when the eccentric '80s new wave group showed up for sound check.
Whatever happened backstage, the Seagulls went down extremely well in front of this mostly Nashville audience. The group, which first came to national attention in 1982 with their hit single "I Ran (So Far Away)" was touring mostly off the success from the heavily rotated MTV video. Formed by hairdressers Mike Score and Frank Maudsley, the group had initially made a name for themselves more for their wildly teased hairdos and futuristic fashions than their music. The band was here to prove they could play - if you count the heavily pre-programmed synths and drums playing - and they do indeed deliver, especially with an eight-minute version of "Committed," the musical highlight of the show.
After this tour, A Flock of Seagulls recorded a few more albums and released several more MTV videos, but had arrived on the scene just a tad too late to cash in on the new wave/new romantic movement. By the time this tour had ended, the Flock and their synth-based music were essentially over, and the group faded into obscurity.
They did re-form in 2002 and continue to tour today, although the wild hair is gone now - and not necessarily by their own choice.