A Day on the Green – Roxette In Concert
No one does Rock Ballads Better!
Words: Brooke Hynch
Photos: Paul BlackBurn
Sirromet – What can we say? You do scrub up well! Considering we had Tropical Cyclone Alfred blow through town the weekend before, you wouldn’t know it; the grounds were immaculately prepared, and the day was sunny with a cool breeze; if you were an ANZ customer, you even got 20% off at the bar in the first hour – what’s not to like about that?!
Right from the start we knew we were in for an entertaining day because even the car parking attendants were giving us their interpretation of a New York traffic cop, adding in twists and twirls and flourishes to their movements directing us to our carpark – it had us all giggling like teenagers and enjoying the fun they were having cavorting in the sun after a week of enforced hibernation brought on by Alfred!
Boom Crash Opera
Once we got onsite the steamy hot afternoon lifted off with iconic Aussie ’80s band Boom Crash Opera bursting onto the stage with their 1987 hit ‘Great Wall’… “Hey, hey, hey!” was all it took for the crowd to surge to their feet and thump their fists in the air and start singing along. Well, let’s face it, yelling along is more like it!
The high-mounted speakers, situated mid-field, really elevated those base beats, and from start to finish, this performance could be felt in every cell of your body, just like in an indoor venue.
The playlist included all their smash hits, from ‘Gimme,’ ‘Dancing in the Storm,’ and ‘Hands up in the Air’ (yes, there was definitely lots of Nah, Nah, Nah-ing going on with audience participation ramping up the reverb through the grounds). They even threw in their somewhat Jazzy scat-filled number, ‘End Up Where I Started,’ which got everybody literally hopping. Rounding things out nicely with ‘Betterdaze’ and finishing on ‘These Are Crazy Times’ – and yeah I did think this was particularly appropriate for the times we’re living in.
The lads delivered a high-energy performance with their nostalgic playlist, urging many in the crowd to reminisce about other concerts or moments in their lives when the band’s songs held great meaning for them. Moving into the break you could hear groups discussing amongst themselves how many memories these songs brought forward for them, their smiles and laughter alone told the story of why they were here. It was great to see there were also younger audience members being swept up in the ’80s reverence.
Jon Stevens
Jon literally exploded onto the stage, and once again, the crowd surged to their feet, and they pretty much stayed there throughout his whole performance. With the words, “Hey, come on, come on, come on, come on!” Jon just didn’t stop. He delivered a sweetly crafted performance, blending INXS and Noiseworks songs seamlessly throughout his playlist.
The crowd raised arms and “Reached Out and Touched Somebody” with him as he crooned this iconic rock ballad, reminiscing with the audience about a prior gig at Sirromet, before launching into ‘New Sensation.’ For a man who was only on stage for an hour he really was a machine, belting out hits one after the other, never wavering, never letting up, just punching those high notes out into the night. From ‘What you need,’ to ‘Voice of Reason,’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart,’ ‘No Lies,’ ‘Need You Tonight,’ ‘You’re My Kind,’ ‘Hot Chilli Woman,’ ‘Don’t Change’ – culminating in the ever-powerful ‘Take Me Back’ scream-along – cos yeah you had to yell that loud just to be heard over the music!
If you’ve never seen Jon in concert or are a Noiseworks or INXS fan (or both), then I highly recommend his high-energy, entrancing performance, you definitely won’t regret it.
Roxette
This Swedish Pop-rock duo with some original members and original lead Per Gessle, has hit Australia by storm this March. Lena Philipsson has stepped in to Marie Fredriksson’s rather large shoes. I will admit, it took me a while to warm to Lena, it could be my imagination or my own bias but I thought she was a bit wobbly on the first few songs… but then all of a sudden Lena seemed to blossom and really come into her own, and man did she ever! Big presence, big voice, she really knocked some of those songs out of the park.
From ‘Big Love’ to ‘Sleeping in My Car’ to ‘Dressed for Success’ – which by the way generated an instant surge as the crowd simultaneously rose to it’s feet almost before the first word was spoken. Ballad after ballad was delivered, which had the crowd see-sawing from energetic, uplifting life-affirming pop rock to being almost completely emotionally crippled at times with melancholic, mournful requiems like ‘Crash, Boom, Bang’ and ‘Fading Like a Flower.’ But did these slow sorrowful tunes stop them dancing? No they did not! When the rhythm slowed down, groups gathered arm in arm, swaying to the music, hugging and serenading each other, gazing longingly at each other and generally having a big love fest. Yes, I even saw tears, and no, it wasn’t only the girls shedding them. Especially for ‘It Must Have Been Love,’ which was beautifully sung in tribute to Marie.
The other highlight of the night had to be Christoffer Lundquist’s rendition of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ on the guitar; really, I never knew that song could sound that good – the crowd singing it, of course, definitely helped.
Now if it were me, I would have ended the night on the high we all got from ‘She’s Got the Look’… that extended version was really something to behold. The only thing I would say was that they overplayed it, adding one more song after that. But hey, that’s just my opinion right?
All in all a really passionate, heartfelt, nostalgic performance. They did, of course, throw in a few new songs… but let’s face it, we weren’t really there for those, were we?
See the full gallery here.
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