A most unusual ’80s/early ’90s concert is coming to St. Pete. Who wants to go?

First, take the 80s group Culture Club, the folks behind Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?, Time (Clock of the Heart), and Church of the Poison Mind, and whose members have aged remarkably well:

then add the “we thought they were Brits, but they’re American” alt-rock band Book of Love, who had a hit with Boy (I own the 12″ maxi-single) and seemed to always open for Depeche Mode in the early to mid-80s:

Now jump forward a few years and bring in the dance floor crowd-pleasers C + C Music Factory. At this point, this oddball collection of bands is probably making you go hmmm…

…then stay in the same area but take a sharp left turn and bring in My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (if you saw the film Cool World, you might remember their single, Sex on Wheels):

Next, introduce Marc Almond. Perhaps you haven’t heard of him on his own, but you’ve most certainly heard the synthpop group of which he made one-half: Soft Cell, as in Tainted Love:

And finally, to make sure that the lineup can only get better, add the one and only Howard Jones:

Then gather them together somewhere on Madeira Beach, one of the barrier island cities just off the coast in St. Petersburg, which isn’t all too far away from where I live now…

…and declare it a concert and “unity festival to promote racial, religious and sexual-orientation tolerance.” It happening on Saturday, August 15th at Madeira Beach Park at 3:00 p.m., and tickets run the range of $30 to $179. 

This lineup’s just a little too delightfully oddball to resist. Who wants to catch this with me in the cheap seats?