Debbie Gibson‘s Electric Youth Tour was one of my first concerts and the first one I went to unchaperoned. My best friend and I, 16 at the time, got tickets for the Philadelphia stop slated for August 1, 1989 and waited anxiously all summer for the date to arrive. We were huge fans of Debbie’s since Out of the Blue – we listened to her albums (on cassette, of course), had Electric Youth perfume on our dressers, and would have worn hats just like Debbie if we had any prayer of pulling it off.

Debbie embarked on the Electric Youth tour in 1989 to promote her second album of the same name. The album produced four singles, including the No. 1 hit Lost in Your Eyes.

On the night of the concert, I remember Philly’s Spectrum being packed with teenage girls, a lot of mothers, and a few very smart teenage boys. Judson Spence was the opening act (I had to Google him and found out he had a Top 40 hit in 1988 called Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, although I don’t remember it). Debbie was a huge ball of energy as she performed a greatest hits collection from her two albums, including Only in My Dreams, Lost in Your Eyes, Shake Your Love, Foolish Beat, Out of the Blue, No More Rhyme, and, of course, Electric Youth. (Damn, the girl had a lot of hits!)

It was a fun night for two best friends – one we still reminisce about today. We still can’t pull off wearing hats, though.