The dressing room above the NorVa was a giant version of my bedroom when I was 9 years old.

Singer/keyboard player Danica Willoughby

Lace leggings, boas, bright shirts, spandex, more versions of sparkle than I can count, and the pièce de résistance: a Caboodle. A real one, hot pink, black, and white. A makeup case coveted by so many in the Bonnie Bell set of 1988.

While you may think it’s impossible to step into a time machine, as my night with local 80s band The Deloreans proved, it’s actually quite easy to go back in time. Even their name references time travel. Who can forget Marty McFly and that magic car?

“We were all brainstorming and a lot of names were taken. We thought of several, I remember The Legwarmers being one,” says singer/keyboard player Danica Willoughby. [Bandmate and Billy Idol lookalike] Windle came up with the name The Deloreans and it clicked. It’s like the time machine, man. We take you back to the future.”

All kidding aside, while they are quite capable of getting you in party mode, I was most struck with how professional they are. The band color coordinated not only its outfits (hot pink and black), but also hair, drums, and microphone stands. They put a lot of effort into their success and their fans’ good time–and it really shows.

Bassist/singer Melanie Waters

“We’ve been together since 2007 and the idea… we dove into it as an 80s show band,” explains bassist/singer Melanie Waters. Within one year of forming, both Willoughby and Waters were making The Deloreans their full time jobs, and now only one band member and the sound person work second jobs.

The timeframe in which they formed was also jackpot. I remember hearing of The Spazmatics out of Austin or Steel Panther in LA making huge waves in the bar and private party scene a few years ago and thinking it was something Tidewater would really enjoy. Apparently, The Deloreans were thinking something similar, though maybe not realizing other cities were doing the same.

Waters says, “We cornered the market at a perfect time because 80s in now in the stores and on the radio. Other bands did 80s stuff, but not exclusively. We hit it at a great time.” She explains her boyfriend was already in a 70s cover band, and they started gigging together occasionally, and eventually came up with the idea to do 80s exclusively.

According to wedding website, The Knot, “couples are going beyond the classic wedding band and hiring 80s cover bands to play their favorite tunes from Men at Work, Madonna, and Michael Jackson.” The Deloreans are no exception. They’re currently booked for weddings all over Virginia and as far away as Vermont, and they want to take it to the next level.

The guys, Windle and Jess Willoughby

“Private parties is our goal,” says Waters. “We’d like to have a bigger spectrum for corporate events. Like with big dinners, we’d like to do a 20’s flapper, guys in zoot suits jazz thing.” They describe what sounds like an incredible idea. They would be jazzy 20’s during the dinner portion of an event, then switch to the 80s for the reception and dance portion. Too bad I’m already married because I would have totally booked that for myself. They even have the closest thing to Billy Idol singing a great “White Wedding.”

Willoughby also clarified that while they have a lot of upbeat songs, especially for a venue like the NorVa, they also cater their sets to their audience and include slow dances when appropriate. She said they were going to try out a few new medleys for the NorVa show, including Madonna and Footloose soundtrack. “We rearrange our setlist to keep it fresh,” Waters says. “Not only for us but for our fans. We try to mix it up.”

I must say, when grown men are waving their beers in the air and singing “and I am a Material Girrrrlll…Materiah-ahl!,” it’s impossible not to see the power nostalgia, pop, and dancing has on people (well, that and of course, impossible not to laugh at said grown men). The Madonna medley went great. Willoughby even mimicked moves from the “Material Girl” video. The hundreds of fans who went all out with the crimping irons and mascara were right there with her, sometimes move for move.

It was a great night, from the giddiness of my memories of my own closet while looking at theirs, to dancing like a fool to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” while in the elevator with two of my friends, to the ride home, when Madonna’s “Get Into the Groove” came on the radio. Thanks Deloreans, I already am.