Back to the Future

Tiffany. At the Wildcat Lounge, Sunday, August 27.

Reviewed by Sarah Hammill

We’ve come a long way since 1987. The
Iran-Contra affair, the Jim Bakker debacle, and the WWF were all
over the news back then. It was also the year that little-known pop
singer Tiffany released her first album, Tiffany. I, for one, was a
fan, or as much of a fan as one could be at the age of 5. Dressed
in coordinating spandex pants and clip-on dangly earnings, my
cousin and I would blast the album, jumping wildly on her parents’
bed.

A few years later, the album’s big hit “I Think We’re Alone Now”
still held a sort of magic spell over me. I knew all the words by
heart and it began to form a sort of fantasy soundtrack in my head.
In those days, I was in love with Zack Morris from Saved by the
Bell and I remember lying on my bed, envisioning Zack and me
rolling around in the forest, with the beating of our hearts as the
only sound. I don’t know that I knew exactly what that meant, but
it sounded good to me.

So when I caught wind of the Tiffany concert at Wildcat, it was
more nostalgia than anything that drew me to the show. Fortunately
for Tiffany, ’80s fashion is back, making her black-and-white
striped shirt, inches-high hair pouf, and mismatched pumps almost
en vogue.

The show kicked off with “Should’ve Been Me,” the first of a
string of finely rendered ’80s hits. Tiffany’s voice is as good as
it ever was, though the most remarkable aspect was the performance
itself. Tiffany took the tiny stage with grace and poise,
especially considering the larger venues she was accustomed to back
in the day. She sang her hits like she still loved them, making eye
contact with nearly every fan in the audience, and doing her best
to grab each hand thrust her way. She let us in on a few
secrets — she loves Avril Lavigne and considers herself a rocker at
heart — and while the crowd sang along to “I Saw Him Standing
There,” I did too, still rocking my dangly earrings, and with my
real-life version of Zack Morris by my side.