Back to the '80s

MANILA, Philippines - To music fans, the name Tears For Fears evokes sweet and pleasant memories of the ‘80s, an exciting and colorful era that saw the emergence of enduring hits from some of the biggest luminaries in music and entertainment during the past century.

An outstanding product of what many consider as a golden era in pop music, Tears For Fears was acclaimed for its unique sound that turned The Hurting, Songs From The Big Chair, Sowing The Seeds of Love, among many others, into consistent chart-busters and powerful attractions for millions of audiences to its numerous sold-out performances.

Its greater significance, however, lies in its enduring power that translates into its ability to transcend generations, emerging as one of the biggest and best-loved groups of the post-MTV era that continues to attract audiences worldwide until today.

Catch Tears For Fears as it takes audiences back to the exuberant sound of the ‘80s with its timeless hits when it comes to Manila to perform on May 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Dubbed as Tears for Fears Live In Manila!, the musical presentation from Ovation Productions is the Manila leg of the four-city Southeast Asian tour by the celebrated pop duo that also includes Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

It will immediately follow its April engagement in support of the re-formed ‘80s pop group Spandau Ballet in its seven-date tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Tears For Fears evolved from the love for music that brought together teenagers Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith in their home city of Bath, Somerset, England in the early ’80s, where they became session musicians for the band Neon before making their professional debut with the mod-influenced band Graduate.

After the dissolution of Graduate, the pair formed a group that ultimately became Tears For Fears, a moniker inspired by the Primal Therapy developed by American psychologist Arthur Janov, who suggested “tears as a replacement for fears.”

Orzabal and Smith were swept into the pop music limelight through their 1983 debut album, The Hurting, a sophisticated collection of inward-looking, synthesizer-based pop songs that included Mad World (their third single and recently covered to enormous UK success by Gary Jules), Pale Shelter and Change, which were all Top 10 hits in Britain.

Greater triumph was to come the duo’s way with its second album, Songs From The Big Chair (released in February 1985), which became an international hit, boasting three Top 5 singles in the US alone (dual No. 1’s: Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Shout and Head Over Heels) and ultimately catapulted Tears For Fears to superstardom.

To support the release of the album, the pair went on an extensive world tour that lasted most of the year, a feat matched four years later by the release of the follow-up album, Sowing The Seeds of Love, a joyous, profoundly Beatlesque burst of rich melodic pop accompanied by an equally memorable video.

Featuring the No. 2 smash hit, The Seeds Of Love, the compilation eventually soared into the Top 10.

Tears For Fears was on the way towards greater musical heights when, due to professional differences, Smith left the band in 1991, moving to New York City and eventually pursued a solo career.

With Orzabal solely at the helm, Tears For Fears continued, releasing three new albums — Elemental (1993), Raoul And The Kings Of Spain (1995) and Saturnine, Martial And Lunatic (1996) — and touring internationally to promote them.

Due to mounting clamor from fans in America, South America and other parts of the globe for them to get back together, Orzabal and Smith sat down and set aside their differences in 2004. 

The historic but friendly dialogue resulted in one of the most dramatic reunions in pop music history that set the stage for the phenomenal comeback of one of the most successful pop groups of the past half-century.

Thirteen years of separation came to a fitting close with the release in the UK and Europe in March 2005 of Everybody Loves A Happy Ending, first collaboration of Orzabal and Smith in over a decade that featured colorful and Beatlesque songs.

The release of the album came shortly after the comeback single, Closest Thing To Heaven, became the first Tears For Fears UK Top 40 hit in a decade.

There was no turning back for Tears For Fears since. It continued to delight millions worldwide with new hits and sold-out performances as it recovered and solidified its former stature as one of pop music’s most productive and successful collaborations.

The band has sold more than 22 million albums worldwide, including over eight million in the US alone.

(For details, call 532-8883.)