Hunters & Collectors/John Farnham - V8 Sydney race gig @ ANZ Stadium 3/12/2012
December 6th 2011 08:50
Crooked Saint had the unenviable task of opening for the line up created when the cars were still racing around the track. They put in a solid effort to a near empty ANZ stadium playing tracks of both EPs. While the crowd didn't really care for them, I appreciated hearing songs like "Big Easy", "Lazy Bones" and "Every Angry Inch".
James Reyne, Australian Crawl frontman returned to the live stage with a new single and set of classic hits such as "Reckless". The late afternoon crowd warmed to a man who, I'll admit, had forgotten some of the great songs he had written. You could see he was back in love with music and enjoyed playing live again. Up next was a surprise guest in the form of X-Factor series winner.
I never watched the show so I didn’t know who he was. His band were miming because it seemed like they were not plugged in. He came out and ruined “Paradise City” and some other track and thankfully left the stage.
Got to give Jon Stevens credit. For a guy who had a heart attack not so long ago it didn’t show. Jon and his mates tore up the stage with a best of set spanning from “Hot Chilli Woman” through to “Take Me Back”. Jon controlled the crowd and really worked the stage well in what was a pleasant performance from Noiseworks
I grew up on John Farnham. My mum loves him and let's face it we all know the words to "You're The Voice"! But I was a bit worried seeing the last time I saw him in public it was looking old and well retired (ie: he was a bit pudgy). Bit from the moment he stepped on stage you sensed that he was back and that it was going to be a special night.
Johnny never missed a beat as he controlled the band and the ten thousand strong crowd with classic tracks like the country tinged “Chain Reaction”, “Age Of Reason”, his duet with Human Nature “Everytime You Cry”, “Two Strong Hearts “ and “Take The Pressure Down”. For a man into his 60’s, his voice is stronger and better than it has ever been. The power of those vocal chords is somewhat phenomenal. Even without a mic, I think the people sitting in the back row of ANZ stadium would’ve still heard him belt out tunes.
The highlights were of course hearing “You’re The Voice”. Not one single person could help but sing that out at the top of our voices and when the bagpipe band came out in the middle for the interlude in the song the place erupted. He left the stage to one of the greatest ovations I ever witness at a gig to only return to bash out a wonderful and very Farnhamesque rendition of AC/DC’s “Long Way To The Top”. That 60 minute set I can not describe. There is not enough adjectives and superlatives that capture how great he was. The best i can say is that I will rate this in my top 5 for the year.
After a "hiatus" the Hunters & Collectors reformed for this show and following from an awesome performance from Johnny Farnham it was going to be z tough gig. A slow brooding start didn't help. It seemed to put them on the backfoot and they spent the rest of the night catching up. ( see the sporting analogy I used there!)
'Do You See What I See" picked up the pace and got the crowd singing again. From a performance point of view they were tight. As if they picked up where they left off. But I don't think they created a set list designed to appease the kind of crowd that was there. They have a great back catalogue of up beat energetic anthems that would be perfect for drunk V8 enthusiasts but instead decided to play some more sombre meaningful tracks. For the first gig back I think they could've been more dynamic. Perhaps they were over shadowed by the power of Farnsy's performance before hand. But for me, the Hunters lacked that punch.
James Reyne, Australian Crawl frontman returned to the live stage with a new single and set of classic hits such as "Reckless". The late afternoon crowd warmed to a man who, I'll admit, had forgotten some of the great songs he had written. You could see he was back in love with music and enjoyed playing live again. Up next was a surprise guest in the form of X-Factor series winner.
I never watched the show so I didn’t know who he was. His band were miming because it seemed like they were not plugged in. He came out and ruined “Paradise City” and some other track and thankfully left the stage.
Got to give Jon Stevens credit. For a guy who had a heart attack not so long ago it didn’t show. Jon and his mates tore up the stage with a best of set spanning from “Hot Chilli Woman” through to “Take Me Back”. Jon controlled the crowd and really worked the stage well in what was a pleasant performance from Noiseworks
I grew up on John Farnham. My mum loves him and let's face it we all know the words to "You're The Voice"! But I was a bit worried seeing the last time I saw him in public it was looking old and well retired (ie: he was a bit pudgy). Bit from the moment he stepped on stage you sensed that he was back and that it was going to be a special night.
Johnny never missed a beat as he controlled the band and the ten thousand strong crowd with classic tracks like the country tinged “Chain Reaction”, “Age Of Reason”, his duet with Human Nature “Everytime You Cry”, “Two Strong Hearts “ and “Take The Pressure Down”. For a man into his 60’s, his voice is stronger and better than it has ever been. The power of those vocal chords is somewhat phenomenal. Even without a mic, I think the people sitting in the back row of ANZ stadium would’ve still heard him belt out tunes.
The highlights were of course hearing “You’re The Voice”. Not one single person could help but sing that out at the top of our voices and when the bagpipe band came out in the middle for the interlude in the song the place erupted. He left the stage to one of the greatest ovations I ever witness at a gig to only return to bash out a wonderful and very Farnhamesque rendition of AC/DC’s “Long Way To The Top”. That 60 minute set I can not describe. There is not enough adjectives and superlatives that capture how great he was. The best i can say is that I will rate this in my top 5 for the year.
After a "hiatus" the Hunters & Collectors reformed for this show and following from an awesome performance from Johnny Farnham it was going to be z tough gig. A slow brooding start didn't help. It seemed to put them on the backfoot and they spent the rest of the night catching up. ( see the sporting analogy I used there!)
'Do You See What I See" picked up the pace and got the crowd singing again. From a performance point of view they were tight. As if they picked up where they left off. But I don't think they created a set list designed to appease the kind of crowd that was there. They have a great back catalogue of up beat energetic anthems that would be perfect for drunk V8 enthusiasts but instead decided to play some more sombre meaningful tracks. For the first gig back I think they could've been more dynamic. Perhaps they were over shadowed by the power of Farnsy's performance before hand. But for me, the Hunters lacked that punch.
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