Dig out those flares, book yourself for a perm and fire up the Audi Quatro, the 1980’s are making a comeback in Tenerife. Kool and the Gang, the American soul band are playing at the Santa Cruz auditorium on April 18, the latest in a long line of retro music acts to pop over. The group from New Jersey had a string of big hits at the start of the 1980’s such as Joanna and Get Down On It, the years may have aged them but i’m sure they cn still evoke a few memories.

It looks like being a busy musical year for the Canary Islands, Tony Hadley, former lead singer of Spandau Ballet, is playing the Alfredo Krauss auditorium in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria on February 26, backed by the Barcelona Jazz Orchestra. Possibly the biggest event to hit the islands this year is the official inauguration of the Grantecan telescope over on La Palma.

The Grantecan project has attracted the interest of former Queen guitarist Brian May, who did some of the research for his PHD in astrophysics there, he was asked to play at the opening ceremony. This has snowballed from there with French electro rock genius Jean Michel Jarre declaring his interest to take part on the big night, and now former Genesis drummer Phil Collins has added his talents to the mix.

The inauguration is likely to take place in July but because of the logistics, Grantecan is on Roque de los Muchachos, towering 2,400 metres over La Palma, it may well be a private event. However with 3 such top artists adding a musical twist, it should attract big television coverage from TV Canarias at least.

Maybe Sting is keen to be the next rock star to set foot on Tenerife. I have noticed some flyers lately for a series of courses on Tantric Love in El Medano and Santa Cruz, it’s something that the former Police lead singer swears by. It’s all about using the mind and body in harmony when playing “hide the sausage” and it’s got to be better than using some of Stings more experimental solo works as a bedroom backing track.

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