This most recent concert from Colin Hay was one of melancholy
and a time for reflection. This was my
11th Colin Hay show. Austin has lost count on
his total. I got our usual front row
seats. Colin’s usual acerbic wit was in
full force. He spoke very personally
about the recent loss of his good friend Greg Ham from Men at Work, who was
recently found dead at his home in Australia. Colin started the night with Wayfaring Sons, a touching but poignant
song about his home country of Australia. Then slowing things down a touch, he talked
and did his usual opening remarks including his banter with the audience which
went on for quite a bit.
Colin did a lot of old songs early on, and he was strumming
most of them, almost trying to get them done fast and out of the way. His voice cracked on a slightly different
arrangement of Who Can It Be Now?
Fan favorite Beautiful
World was played next, including the line about ‘sleeping with Marie.’ As usual, he paid tribute to his father who
passed away a few years ago. His
father’s death deeply touched him; in fact there are a few songs about it on
his new album.
He told the story about McCartney doing dishes at his house
and how Paul and Heather used to fight over his CD Going Somewhere and then played the title track. This is a song that always fares better
live.
Colin then opted to play another Men at Work classic, Overkill. He had his usual guitar and looping effects
while he played the solo. The solo was
simplified for the acoustic guitar.
After the solo he had split the guitar signal so there was both a
distorted and clean signal playing. It
gave it a nice thick chunky sound that made it sound fuller and not sound just
like one guitar.
He switched things up and played Waiting for My Real Life to Begin.
He usually closes with this song.
He said he gets letters about people choosing this song as their wedding
song. Someone yelled out that she did,
and he made fun of her, saying “I’ll check back in a few years and see how well
that fuckin’ good that song did for ya.”
He didn’t attempt the high notes or holding the long note at the
end. He was almost going through the
motions and he clearly played about five less songs than he usually does at his
acoustic shows.
He switched to his little 12 string guitar which is almost
the size of a mandolin to sing Maggie. This got a few claps during the intro. After taking his little guitar off, he
switched to his orchestra model shaped guitar without the cutaway and began to
sing Prison Time, a great newer
song. He did another new song called Send Somebody where he really let loose
on the vocals and did an admirable job.
He closed the show with I
Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You and spoke about the soundtrack from
Garden State going platinum and him getting
checks in the mail. He made a crack
about his albums going Mahogany.
It was weird that there was no Down Under. Two explanations
are that since he was sued over the flute part, maybe he doesn’t want to do it
anymore, or that fact that Greg had just died and it was a way to memorialize
him. He came out to a stripped down
version of Down Under without vocals
and the closing music was the same song, but with a slightly different arrangement.
He did his usual meet and greet, but Austin
and I decided to hit the road since we have so many autographs and photos and
made our way down the windy dark back roads of Ridgefield
to the Parkway to home.
Wayfaring Sons
Who Can It Be Now?
I Don’t Know Why (acapella)
Beautiful World
Gathering Mercury
Family Man
Going Somewhere
Overkill
Waiting For My Real Life to Begin
Dear Father
Maggie
Prison Time
Send Somebody
I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get over You
