50th April Fools Show

The Fools

with Fortune and Captain Jack & The Strangers

The very first live performance under the band name “The Fools” was on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1975 at The Rusty Nail club in Salisbury, MA. And now, 2025 marks the band’s 50^th Anniversary!

All entertainers have a gimmick, a shtick. The object of a Fools show was to blow real life out of all proportion and morph ‘just another night out to see a band’ into the most fun anyone had ever had — anywhere! Meeting with great success, it was not long before the lads were masterminding stage trickery, pratfalls, skits, themes, twisted audience participation, practical jokes, paybacks, big nights and even some colossal events. Then they discovered radio.

In 1979 "Psycho Chicken," X-rated parody of The Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer," exploded over the airwaves of Boston. The boys were so excited they followed up almost at once with another whopping hit — "It's a Night for Beautiful Girls." And the guys were not the only ones to get excited. EMI Records signed the band and sent them right out to tour the U.S. with The Knack. The tour was a smashing success. Then, off to Miami to record the victorious debut album "Sold Out."

The 1980’s saw the band through a storybook journey of mounting success and achievement. Adoring fans, media attention, the second album "Heavy Mental," touring the U.S. with Van Halen, massive "hometown" shows in Boston, TV appearances galore, European Tours with dizzying record sales, music videos and MTV. Then came the break with EMI. The band, alone and exhausted, retired to Cape Cod for a summer and bravely wrote their most successful album, "World Dance Party." Fueled by no less than four big radio tunes, WDP flew out of stores across the nation. The title track "World Dance Party," along with a "Doo Wah Diddy" remake, "Life Sucks…Then You Die" and "She Makes Me Feel Big" all added up to a blockbuster of an independent release racking up millions of sales.

Record-breaking radio airplay, new videos with heavy MTV play, new releases and constant touring have propelled The Fools through the decades. In 2024 the band was inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame. And now in 2025 there is a new studio album being recorded, plus a new live album to be released along with a movie being filmed about The Fools for a 2026 release!

Do not miss an opportunity to experience the spectacle and splendor, the legendary bombast, yes, the shock and the awe — The Fools!