The Bangles made an increasingly rare appearance at the 2018 Arroyo Seco festival in Pasadena, Calif., which took place June 23-24. (The stellar lineup also included classic rock favorites Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Pretenders, Robert Plant & the Sensational Space Shifters, Alanis Morissette, the Revolution, and Los Lobos, among many others.)
But it was the Bangles‘ 11-song set, with those beautiful harmonies, on the event’s closing day – just their second known performance of 2018 – that raised eyebrows for its rare occurrence.
[They followed it with another set on January 26, 2019, as part of the lineup at ’80s Weekend #7 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.]
The band opened their Arroyo Seco performance with a one-two punch of “Hazy Shade of Winter” and followed it with “Manic Monday.”
The set also included “In Your Room,” “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Eternal Flame.” (Each song was a Top 5 U.S. pop single between 1986-1989.) See the complete setlist below.
Watch the Bangles rock on “In Your Room”
The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by Debbi Peterson (drums), Vicki Peterson (lead guitar), Annette Zilinskas (bass guitar) and Susanna Hoffs (rhythm guitar). For this performance, they were reunited with Zilinskas; Amanda Podany also joined for this show.
Watch “Eternal Flame,” a #1 smash in 1989
Towards the end of the performance, Hoffs said, “We love you guys. Thank you so much for [unintelligible] our music for over 30 years.”
Watch the afternoon set’s finale, their first #1 single
The Bangles, June 24, 2018, Arroyo Seco Setlist
A Hazy Shade of Winter
Manic Monday
I’m in Line
Going Down to Liverpool
If She Knew What She Wants
September Gurls
Want You
In Your Room
Hero Takes a Fall
Eternal Flame
Walk Like an Egyptian
Several years earlier, the Bangles played three December 2016 shows at Los Angeles’ Whisky A Go Go. The great website, Setlist.fm, reveals three performances in 2019. Though they have not revealed any other future dates, we can only hope.
Related: Our listings of 100s of classic rock tours
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The Bangles are headlining the LikeTotallyFestival on May 11, 2019.