"The music that came out of that decade, there’s never been a decade quite like it since," Gary Davies says of the ‘80s ahead of his live show in Glasgow next month.
The legendary DJ will be coming to the O2 Academy on Saturday as he takes the most popular 80s radio show on the road with BBC Radio 2 Sounds of the 80s: The Live Tour.
Gary first joined BBC Radio 1 in 1982 on the late-night weekend show but soon took over the lunchtime show and became a regular presenter of Top Of The Pops, hosting it more often than any other DJ in the 1980s.
READ NEXT: Here's what will be on offer at Paisley Food and Drink Festival this weekend
In 2017, after 23 years away from BBC Radio, he presented a special edition of Sounds of the 80s on BBC Radio 2 and took over as the new host of the station’s show in 2018.
"It [the 1980s] was an unbelievable decade because it’s the decade I got my dream job, I ended up working for Radio 1, it’s the decade I started hosting my favourite ever TV show which was Top Of The Pops," Gary says.
"My dreams came true in the 80s.
"But also [...] the variety of music in those ten years and the different genres that happened in those 10 years are still really relevant today."
Gary says he decided to take Sounds of the 80s on tour last year because it's "such a fun show to do".
"I’ve been doing it a while and I thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if we took this out live because people would just love it’," he explains.
"We tried one live show on the radio in Stoke the Christmas before last and it went down an absolute storm and would thought ‘this could work as a live stage show’.
"So, we put a few dates on sale last year to see how it would go and they were all just sensational, we didn’t have a bad show.
"Everyone was really enjoying it and going crazy and I kept getting messages saying ‘why didn’t you come to Scotland’ so we thought when we were doing dates this year we had to include Scotland."
READ NEXT: Texas star Sharleen Spiteri was ordered to 'change her look' for success
BBC Radio 2 Sounds of the 80s: The Live Tour sees Gary and his producers Johnny Kalifornia bring the party in their 80s radio studio set up along with Gary’s gang of Sounds of the 80s dancers, mastermixes featuring timeless hits and special guest appearances from 80s stars.
While Gary suspected the shows would be a hit, he was taken aback by just how “brilliant” the nights were and he encourages anyone coming along to wear trainers.
He said: "The crowd goes crazy and nobody stops dancing for three hours.
“It's just 80s smash hit after 80s smash hit.
"You know when you go for a night out and the smile never leaves your face? That’s the feeling I have every time I do one of these shows and when you look at the crowd, they’re just having the best time dancing to the best music."
Among the artists that will be played during the event are Glasgow bands Deacon Blue and Simple Minds, who Gary says are both among this "all-time favourite" bands.
"I was a massive champion of both bands in the 80s," he says.
"I think Deacon Blue should have had way more success,
"You go see them love now and they're amazing, they’re still brilliant, but I remember seeing them in the 80s and they would be on stage for like three and a half hours.
"They just wouldn’t stop, it was phenomenal."
He added: "Glasgow was such a vibrant city, and it had an incredible music culture.
"It was a lot of fun and we always used to enjoy our time there."
BBC Radio 2 Sounds of the 80s: The Live Tour with Gary Davies will be at the O2 Academy on Saturday, May 4.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel