Big Country and the Restless Natives

The decade fashion forgot produced some great music and four exponents of the 1980s join forces at the Playhouse on Sunday.

Big Country 80s Invasion

Topping the bill are Big Country, who will be joined by Midge Ure, Nick Heyward and Curiosity Killed The Cat.

Formed in Dunfermline in 1981, Big Country cemented their association with the Capital through the 1985 movie Restless Natives, for which they provided the 
soundtrack.

Filmed in the city, the comedy charted the antics of two modern-day folk heroes who held up tourist coaches dressed as a clown and a wolf-man.

A cult hit, the film owed much of its success to Big Country’s blistering guitar-driven score.

Guitarist Bruce Watson, one of two of the original line-up still with the band, recalls the first time they saw the movie. “We were in Park Lane Studios, Glasgow, and the people from the Oxford Film Company brought in a rough cut of the film, complete with time code and music from our first two albums, The Crossing and Steeltown, to give us an idea what they were after,” he says.

“We watched it a couple of times and were in hysterics, it was so funny. The script was hilarious.

“So the music was written for the film and, because of that, you find yourself writing music with strange timings to fit with the way it has been cut.”

Expect a nod and a wink to Restless Natives at the Playhouse, along with hits like Fields of Fire, In a Big Country – their only US top 40 hit single – and Wonderland.

“This is the first time we’ve done a package tour, we are on for 45 minutes and basically have to play the hits you are known for,” says Watson.

That means, despite line-up changes and the loss of original frontman Stuart Adamson who died in 2001, keeping the sound authentic.

“In the 80s we’d stray from that just to keep it fresh, but now we have gone back to exactly as it was on the record. People expect that.”

80s Invasion, Playhouse, Greenside Place, Sunday, 7.30pm, £33.65-£38.65, 0844-871 3014