Leake Streets’ brick-walled halls glowed with majestic, electric neon lights, paving the scenery with the perfect ambience to greet the fans and their colourful attires. Artists, staff and fans all mingled together and shared drinks throughout the night, whether it be at the bar, in the concert hall or at the popular cardboard arcade, and every square inch of the venue was filled with a palpable sense of love and passion, for a shared sense of nostalgia, for a past we may or may not have known. Those lucky enough to have wandered through the halls at the right time will have even run into a fully armed T-800 Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator shouting classic Terminator catchphrases and posing for pictures alongside festival attendees, begging the question: what more could you want out of a Retro-themed music festival?

Presided over by emcee DJ She-Ra whose tireless work ran all throughout the night, the Synth marathon ran uninterrupted for twelve hours, from dusk till dawn. As any connoisseur would have guessed from the lineup announcements for the festival, RetroFuture Fest left no room for disappointment in its running order of artists. Whether you like your retro synth music funky, sparkly, epic, funky or downright pitch-dark, the festival had you covered and then some, featuring just about every type of lineup you could think of onstage. Amongst our top three personal favorites in the festivals’ flawless set of shows, Sunglasses Kid pumped the funky vibes up to critical levels with a set featuring guest vocalist SJBRAVO and dancer Jean Frais, Lebrock destroying the stage with some of the most epic vocal performances we’ve ever seen at a Synthwave festival, and Danger unleashing the nights’ monumental finale with the heaviest set of all.

Although this marked our first time as attendees, the loyal Retro Future fans were unanimous in their verdict; the festival had once again outdone itself with this third edition. As for us, we’re certainly looking forward to seeing how its organizers plan on following up on such a tour de force. Young though it may be, Retro Future Fest is already well on its way to becoming a landmark event in the Synthwave music scene.

See you next year!

All Photos by Robin Ono

All Rights Reserved.

After learning of the unfortunate death of Chester Bennington, here is something completely unrelated.

No Retreat No Surrender is a 1986 crossover movie from New World Pictures. I refer to the film as a crossover film because it is the US directorial debut of Corey Yuen (Ninja in the Dragon’s Den, Dance of the Drunk Mantis) and stars (in a supporting role) Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kurt McKinney. 

The blending of American suburban settings with Chinese style martial arts filmmaking and their obvious kinship in overdramatic takes and melodrama fits somehow well in this 80’s cult classic. 

From the opening scene straight out of the Karate Kid leading up to the initial transgression from our story’s smarmy slicked back villain and hilarious screaming take of our heroes father getting his knee-cap smashed in by Van Damme. All the way to the disgrace and seclusion and predictable alcoholism of said father. It has just enough cheese to whet your appetite for absurdity. There are even a few fat jokes at the expense of a chubby comedic foil thrown into the mix.

Our hero played by Kurt McKinney is the average introverted teenager who’s obsessed with Bruce Lee and even plays out Jeet Kun Do moves during his father’s orthodox Karate class.  He has little friends and is lacking in confidence; perfect casting of a handsome actor for the role [sarcasm]. A young man so lonely and looking for guidance and inspiration, that he routinely stalks the gravesite of the late martial artist and film star Bruce Lee, even engaging in conversation with the tombstone. He is constantly pushed to use his improvised yet amateurish fighting skills to defend other people at the disapproval of the new member of the town’s drunken population – his father.  Some of the funniest moments in the film is when he and his father are at odds. You can almost hear the huffing n puffing and “I can’t do nuttin!” coming from Jason’s temper tantrums building up to the straw that broke the camel’s back as his father has a meltdown over Jason’s repeated disobedience and rips his cherished Bruce Lee poster forcing Jason to run away from home and take refuge in a boarded up house where he is haunted by the ghost of Bruce Lee. Is it delusion caused by a mental snap or is it really the ghost of Bruce Lee as played by Tai Chung Kim. Who knows?

What comes next is the mother of all title theme songs/training montages. 

The main plot of the movie follows the takeover of all martial arts dojo’s in the country by a criminal syndicate of, well, four maybe three people. The head of this cabal is a little slick-backed weasel puffing on a cigar and thirsty for … more dojo’s and total domination. The true enforcer of the syndicate is Ivan the Russian played by action film star Jean-Claude Van Damme in one of his first roles, perhaps filmed before or after his attention grabbing performance in the Sho Kosugi film Black Eagle. 

The melodrama is entertaining often over the top and hysterical. From moonwalking gone wrong to uncomfortable basketball dribbling between friends during the first half of the film and to the awkward training montage, it has it all. The fight scenes are GREAT. The fight scenes are great; yes I know I said that twice; it’s true. RJ is the perfect 80’s B-movie black best friend and support system, imagine Stiles (Teen Wolf) had a kid with Turbo from Breakin’.

If I had to rate the film, I’d give it 3 out 5 six packs of Modelo Cheladas. And I really like Micheladas.

It’s fast paced mini-mall kung fu action. You can’t lose and you’d be sure to find yourself wanting to kick some ass and kick back into your lazy-boy chairs. So keep up the good fight. I’m back. Stay Retro. Stay cool and Keep your fingers on that rewind button. There is neither surrender nor retreating and spellcheck is never an option.