THOMAS DOLBY “TOTALLY TUBULAR” TOUR

Once again I’m the luckiest guy in the world, getting to work with really cool people who need really cool stuff for really cool reasons. Long time client and professional friend Thomas Dolby contacted me, alerting me that he was going on an 80’s package tour for summer 2024, the “Totally Tubular” tour, across the US, and also a handful of European dates as a solo artist.

His initial prompt was needing tour shirts designed for the tour, showing all the dates and being a design that would hit with the old school fans but also look fun for new fans coming to the show. The tour included a great cast of 80’s bands; The Thompson Twins, Men Without Hats, Modern English, Bow Wow Wow, Wang Chung and others. From here, Thomas also asked me to help him decide how he was going to be dressed onstage, wanting costuming that would be cool looking, but also adaptable and layered for a schedule of summer outdoor and indoor venue concerts. I supplied him with a whole bunch of costume ideas, and the end result was, as always, an inspired mix of his ideas and my suggestions. The idea was that my t-shirt design would work as a final reveal as he got rid of the heavier outer coat and shirt.

I also worked with him on designing a set of video screen images that could be projected behind him during the concerts. He used some of them, along with his own set of videos and short films from his archive.

The US portion of the tour ended with Thomas doing a one-off gig at the House of Blues in Chicago with the Thompson Twins, where I got to get some backstage access and witness a really great concert from a unique vantage point.