Get into the Groove: Celebrate Halloween the 80s Way By Lana Mini For FILTER/Observer & Eccentric

The neon. The New Romantic Duran Duran-style coifs. The sports jackets with turned up collars and pushed up sleeves. The mullets. The pointy shoes and beetle boots.

The '80s were fun. Lace clothing, rubber bracelets, hair bows and hair gel. The music was danceable and everyday clothing was like a Halloween costume - just choose your style: punk, new wave, Madonna wanna-be, Don Johnson look-alike, whatever.

Revisit that era on Devil's Night, Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Magic Bag in Ferndale with one of Detroit's most popular bands, the Mega 80s.

When the Mega 80s play, people come.

It's more than a local band playing old hits. It's a high-end production show with a big feel. Huge video screens show popular '80s videos and the band members dress in character. The Mega 80s performs '80s songs with eerie perfection.

"For Halloween, we ask people to come dressed in costume but we know we don't have to ask," said vocalist Carey Denha. "People always come dressed up at our shows. The crowd is young people, and those who were teens in the '80s, it's a nice mix."

For the Halloween show, video screens will play clips from popular '80s teen slasher films.

A Mega 80s concert is big - only a few metro Detroit nightclubs have enough space for its multimedia backdrops. The Magic Bag is one of them.

It's like a growing Las Vegas show, Denha said.

Each band member dresses in a different '80s style. Denha wears an Atari shirt, another member has the Don Johnson look, another resembles Duran Duran; every style is represented.

During the set, the band members change their New Wave clothes and transform themselves into a metal band for the Metal Medley, during which they sing pieces of Home Sweet Home, Sweet Child O' Mine, Living On a Prayer and other songs.

But unlike many metal shows, you won't see pyro-technics on stage.

"We had to stop that a few years ago after the Great White incident," Denha said. (A nightclub burned down, killing several audience people, after Great White's fire gimmicks went awry.) "Instead, we use confetti bursts, it's great."

During the regular set, they play songs like Jesse's Girl, Whip It, Reflex, Wang Chung and many more.

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