David Bowie Honored, Kris Jenner Booed During Culture Club’s iHeart80s Set

(Photo: John Salangsang/Invision/AP)

Some of the most popular pop acts of the new wave era celebrated the decade of big hits, big riffs, and big hair Saturday night at Los Angeles’s Forum, at the iHeart80s Party hosted by iHeartRadio. But it was the presence of elder statesman David Bowie that was most felt that night. For the evening’s grand finale, headliner Culture Club performed its longtime favorite cover song, the 1972 Bowie ballad “Starman,” honoring the icon who influenced countless ‘80s artists and practically inspired the entire New Romantic movement.

“We’ve been doing Bowie songs in our set for years, but obviously now that we’ve lost him it kind of takes on a whole new resonance,” proclaimed white-top-hatted Bowie disciple and Culture Club frontman Boy George. “This is the first song I ever saw Bowie sing, and it’s a song called ‘Starman.’ And we want you to sing along, so that David can hear us.”

Related: Boy George: ‘This Is the World I Was Fighting for in 1984’

Culture Club’s Bowie tribute singalong was elatedly received, but earlier in the night, the band’s introduction by Boy George pal Kris Jenner didn’t garner such an enthusiastic response. Jenner’s speech was booed so vociferously by the 17,000-strong crowd that it was impossible to even make out what she was saying.

Incidentally, Jenner’s ex, Caitlyn Jenner, received a much warmer welcome when she introduced Culture Club’s comeback show at L.A.’s Greek Theatre last July. Bunim-Murray Productions, the company behind the Kardashians’ reality franchise and I Am Cait, is currently working with Boy George on his own reality series.

Another odd but much better received cameo of the night came when 66-year-old Rick Springfield invited 19-year-old fellow Australian Cody Simpson to play guitar on his 1981 signature song “Jessie’s Girl.” Simpson held his own, but what was most remarkable was realizing that the ageless Springfield is three and a half times older than his sidekick – and that “Jessie’s Girl” came out 16 years before Simpson was even born.

Related: Rick Springfield on His Past, Present, and Future

Other performers of the night included Loverboy (sadly not wearing red leather pants); Lady Gaga prototype Dale Bozzio with a revamped Missing Persons lineup (sadly sans original members Warren Cuccurullo, Terry Bozzio, and Patrick O'Hearn, but featuring the Knack’s Prescott Niles on bass); Billy Idol (whose six-pack abs amusingly elicited envy from Boy George) with legendary axman Steve Stevens; and Tears for Fears, definitely the tightest and most current-sounding act of the night.

Paula Abdul announced the latter band, referencing the game-changing cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” that Adam Lambert performed back when she was still a judge on American Idol. Other presenters of the night included original MTV VJ Martha Quinn (receiving a “The Mighty Quinn” serenade from Boy George), Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna, former Saved by the Bell star Mario Lopez, and actress Wendi McLendon-Covey from the ‘80s-themed sitcom The Goldbergs.

Related: Martha Quinn Remembers Live Aid

Retro guests in the audience included LL Cool J, No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, and Corey Feldman. It is unclear if they were among the Jenner-jeerers, but it’s safe to assume that they happily joined in on the “Starman” singalong.

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