Expect a wildly fun night at Batavia Downs when Nerds Gone Wild takes the stage

If the raucous audience reaction at Labor Daze at the end of this summer is any indication, the kids, the parents, and even the grandparents are going to go wild for Nerds Gone Wild on Saturday at Batavia Downs.

The Nerds struck cover-band-formula gold a decade ago with a theme that falls somewhere in between the traditional bar band and the now trendy tribute band.  Call it a "concept band," though Nerds Gone Wild founder and CEO Eddy Tabone still likes "tribute band."

"I don't disagree with that (the term concept band)," Tabone said. "You're right. The reason we're an 80s tribute band is that right now tributes are so hot. I want to make sure that we don't get lost when people are searching for us, I don't want them looking for, they may be looking for an 80s tribute, so I want to make sure that word is included, so when they Google it, we show up."

Nerds Gone Wild's concept is to make the 1980s fun again -- with over-the-top-colorful costumes that play off the cartoon stereotype of nerds (think Steve Urkel, Sheldon Cooper, or to go right to a rock-and-roll source from the 1980s, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick) and the high-energy and stagecraft of the post-New Wave era.

"Basically, it is just like a buffet, a buffet of all the 80s stuff,” said Tabone. "We have a little bit of New Wave. Top 40. We do a hair band set. We do a ladies of the 80s block. We do a dance medley."

Audience participation is a big part of the concept.  At some point in the show, kids are invited onto the stage to dance with the band.  When the Nerds play the Rick Springfield hit, "Jesse's Girl," there is usually a young woman from the audience on stage, and the lyrics of the chorus are changed to that lady's name.

Band members never stay stationary for very long -- dancing, jumping, skipping across the stage, and interacting with audience members. 

"We just try to capture, you know, like superheroes, the superhero look with a professionally done gimmick, and then, contagious fun," Tabone said. "We're playing the music to create that vibe that was in the 80s."

The concept of Nerds Gone Wild started floating around the brain of Tabone years ago, at least the idea of doing a 1980s tribute band.

"I've always been a 1980s guy," said Tabone.

For 35 years, he's led a cover band called Route 66 (that band still gigs), and then about a decade ago, a WNY band that played mostly 1980s hits called it quits.

"I heard they were breaking up, and I said to my wife. 'What a shame," said Tabone, who is retired from the beer industry and has started his own talent agency (he's looking to connect with musicians in Genesee County). "I said, 'I gotta put this 80s project together.'"

Then he took a trip to California.

"My sister-in-law turned me onto a band in Southern California, and they dress like nerds, and I said, There it is," Tabone said. "I came back to Buffalo and started asking people, and they go, 'You're crazy.' 'It's never gonna work.' It all came together, and we debuted with a lineup and had our first show in August of 2013."

Yes, the Nerds did celebrate its 10th anniversary this year, and it's progressed from a band "that's never going to work," that intended to only play a show or so a month, to a band that plays up to 95 shows a year and has been selected three times by readers of the Buffalo News as "The Best Live Band in Western New York."

With that kind of success, a band can host its own Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Norweigan line, as they will do for the fifth time this March.

After a break for the pandemic, Tabone said, "We're back on the seas again where we do this Cruise with Nerds Gone Wild, where people from Buffalo or Rochester or wherever get to come on a cruise with us. We have a special dinner with them. We take some photos. We do a private performance for them on the ship. And then, on the last day at sea, we do a show for the cruise line."

The band's current lineup is Tabone, aka "Eugene" (his Nerd name) on drums and vocals, John "Gilbert" Gibbon, on bass, guitar, and vocals, Ed "Milton Wild" Wyner, lead vocals and guitar, Brian "Irwin" Beaudry, keyboards, keytar, vocals, and Eric "Barney" Rovner, lead guitar and vocals.

To find out more about the band and the cruise, visit nerdsgonewild.com.

The show at Batavia Downs in the Park Place Events Center is open to all ages -- kids will go wild for the engaging and interactive entertainment, but it really is an all-ages show, so kids should bring their parents and grandparents, who will be equally entertained.  Doors open at 7 p.m. The Nerds take the stage at 8 p.m.  And the best part, admission is FREE.

"After a long, long Friday and Saturday of shopping, you want to take a break and come down and close your eyes and relive the great music of the 80s," Tabone said.