Colin Hay
Note: Apologies that this review took so long after the show to publish. I was hoping to have it first thing in the morning, but the day actually took a huge toll on me, and both my mind and body was sluggish for most of the day. Still, I wanted to make sure that I published this in a relatively timely manner, and so here it is, a little more than twenty four hours after the show!
My brother's birthday happens to fall in mid-October. Specifically, October 11th. Often times, I like to try and get him tickets for an event as a suitable birthday gift, which usually means that we will spend a good portion of the day (or a day hopefully around the time of his birthday) together.
This year, I got him tickets that I thought he would enjoy: tickets to see Colin Hay (formerly of the band Men at Work) at the Bethel Woods venue, very near the site of perhaps the most legendary concert of all time: Woodstock.
I had been there before, although under quite different circumstances. Three years ago, I went to see Ringo Starr with my father there. It was the summertime, and thus, an outdoor concert. I knew that the site of the concert was fairly close by, and was hoping to catch a glimpse of the field where it had taken place. So, imagine my surprise when, while walking to the actual venue from the main entrance, I found the field literally right next to the venue! People were standing at the edge, looking down on the field, and I was amazed! Plus, it was a great concert - Ringo usually puts on a cool show, with his All-Starr Band.
This time around, it was Colin Hay. My brother had seen him up in Maine while on vacation a couple of years ago, and he had rave reviews for the show. He had also gotten a couple of cd's, one of which had some old Men at Work songs done acoustically. It really sounded awesome, and I wanted to get a burned copy of it.
He sounded so impressed with the show, that I began to look for Colin Hay in concert, wanting to see what he had raved so strongly about. he had also wanted to go to that show earlier the Ringo show at Bethel Woods. He had never been to the site of Woodstock, even though he always had wanted to.
So, earlier this year, I was looking through the Bethel Woods schedule of shows, and noticed Colin Hay in October. This was an opportunity to kind of kill two birds with one stone. I mentioned it to my brother, and he was interested, and it was agreed that we would get tickets for the show, and that these would be my birthday gift to him.
It seemed so far away at the time. I noticed this show, I think, in spring at some point. There was so much in between then and now, that I put it away as something in the distant future. But, of course, time has a way of sneaking up on you, doesn't it? And before I knew it, the date was nearing. Then, it was here. Now, already as I write this, it is obviously past.
We had decided to make a whole day of it. Our grandparents and other relatives lived nearby - I only found out just how close to the site of the legendary Woodstock concert we were until that Ringo Starr concert in 2010, and I was amazed! It is maybe a twenty or so minute drive - maybe. The town of Liberty, where my grandparents lived, and where one relative still lives, is about fifteen or so miles away.
How incredible, then, that neither of us had seen it or gone there in all of that time?
In 2010, my father and I finally got there. My brother seemed very happy to finally see it yesterday, after all of this time.
But that is a post for another day, one that I intend to get to soon. I will also write a little something about Liberty, as well as Orange County Community College, which as I understand it, is now under the umbrella of the State University of New York (SUNY), and thus, now known as SUNY Orange County.
Perhaps my expectations were off, also, because I was at least in part expecting something much more similar to the Ringo Starr experience, in terms of the venue. I was pretty sure that the concert would be indoors, but not entirely sure, since early October is still more or less that nebulus of when outdoor concerts might still be held. I have been to concerts in very late September that were still held outdoors, and we are not too deep into October that this would be an unthinkable notion. But this was more upstate New York, and the temperatures are definitely a bit cooler, so indoors seemed the more likely possibility.
It was indoors, and it was also a very small, intimate venue. A very nice one, but I would be a bit surprised if it held even one thousand people, let alone more than that. The performers might not have even needed a sound system to be heard clearly by everyone in the room.
Which also meant that another of my concerns was alleviated: traffic. I remember the traffic for Ringo being actually quite bad. After the concert ended, we did not get out of the parking area for probably a good forty five minutes or so, and there were still quite a few other people there when we did. This is rural New York, and so there just are not the major roadways that can accommodate a large crowd like that. So, that had been kind of a headache, and I worried that the traffic might be annoying again. But given the intimate nature of this concert, I need not have worried. There were a few hundred people there, and that did not make for stressful driving conditions, or any problems either getting into or out of the venue, which was nice.
This is what the interior of the venue looked like prior to the show.
In fact, I must say that this was probably what a good concert should be: it was small-scale, intimate, with good music and good interaction between artists and audience - and that is true for both performers.
Chris Trapper opened up for Colin Hay (both acts were solitary guys relying on acoustic guitars only), and I must say, he was pretty good. He told the crowd straight off that his first song was about death, but did so in a cheerful manner, drawing laughs. He even encouraged the crowd to get into the song, to sing along, and then acknowledged how strange it must sound for an artist that nobody in the room had ever heard of to ask the audience to sing along to a song that they did not know the words of. But he encouraged us to sing any song that we wanted, and just to sound like we were having just such a very good time, in order to encourage those at the bar just outside of the room to come on in and join the concert.
Trapper had a decent sense of humor, and strong interaction throughout with the crowd throughout his setlist, and gave a nod to the history of the place, claiming that he felt a strong urge to play classic rock.
He explained at one point that one of his songs, was on the soundtrack for "Garden State", and that this album had been nominated for a Grammy. So, he explained that he is often mistakenly introduced as a "Grammy nominated artist", which is "technically not true". And usually, he corrects this at every show, although not in his old hometown of Buffalo, where, he learned, his old high school buddy has become a big fan of his, and he enjoys that extra swell of pride when he is announced as a "Grammy nominated artist".
Trapper also mused on getting older, and mentioned that he realized that he was perhaps getting old when he at one point a few years ago was approached by a couple of attractive twin sisters. He was beginning to imagine some of the dirt deeds that might be done, when they told him that their mother was a huge fan of his, which was very deflating. But, he came to terms with it, and said that so long as it was not their grandmother or, at the very least, not their great grandmother.
Then, it was time for Colin Hay to take the stage to a standing ovation.
My brother had warned me that he was very funny, and this was an understatement, if anything. There were times when I was not sure if this was a comedy show, or a music concert.
One thing that we spoke about afterwards, and admired about Hay's show, is that he is very much in the moment. It is not just a strictly premeditated setlist, where he simply performs the songs and then leaves the stage. It is not formulaic, but rather, relaxed, and even felt spontaneous at times. Clearly, Hay is on stage and giving you everything that he has, and this is both admirable and refreshing.
Hay was clearly pleased to be here tonight, and repeatedly referred to the place as "hallowed ground", for a legendary concert that took place on this site many, many years ago (even many decades ago now), but which still casts a long shadow that is felt right through to the present day.
Hay's acoustic stylings are a deliberate departure from the Men at Work days, of course. And it sounds good, too! My personal impression was that the acoustic style lent itself particularly well for one signature song dating back from the days of Men at Work - Overkill. It lends an old and familiar song an entirely new feel, making it almost a different song on it's own. And much of his work sounded strong throughout the night.
There was one song that I am not entirely sure of the name of, but the main character is a "Mr Grogan", who keeps having bad things happen to him, and finds himself stuck in a life that is not quite what he wanted or expected. Yet, his "Labradoodle" (Colin Hay joked in introducing the song that it was the only song that existed with the word "Labradoodle" in it) loved him just as much, no matter what. This song was good, and had very strong, thought-provoking lyrics.
It bears repeating, though, that the show was richly sprinkled with examples of Colin Hay's sense of humor. Some examples:
- At some point, right after "Down Under", the biggest hit from the Men at Work Days was played, someone left early. Colin Hay had a bit of fun with this, pointing out that the guy had left, and later on, pointing out that he had never returned. He also mentioned that he wished he had the phone numbers of people that left his show early, so he could call them up the next day. "Hello, mate," he said, speaking with that distinctive, clipped Scottish accent in this imaginary phone conversation, "this is Colin Hay. You left the show a wee bit early last evening. I just wanted to know....at what point did it all go wrong for you?"
- He turned around and examined the rather large fireplace behind him (see the pictures to get an idea of just how big), and noted that the fireplace very big - almost as big as the one in his own home.
- He spoke about Sting's shoulders (which he said were perfect shoulders, as well as his name. Nor was he the only one. He talked about how weird it must have been when U2's "The Edge" changed his name form what it had been, to "The Edge". He imagined out loud how his mother would have reacted, claiming that she probably referred to him as "that little shit" and threatened to give him "the edge of the back of my hand".
- Hay also claimed that he tried not to play when U2 was in town, because, in his words, the two acts "draw from one another's crowd."
- He spoke about moving away from Scotland when he was just fourteen, and then returning to Scotland sixteen years later fresh off the success of Men at Work, and feeling that he was on top of the world. He went to some hometown, and a kid on a bike recognized him, and asked if he was Colin Hay. Hay answered in the affirmative, and the boy then just rode off, wordlessly.
- Colin Hay also spoke about his time with Ringo Starr and the All-Starr Band, which Hay was a part of for one tour. He said that Ringo sometimes would get bored, and would visit Hay's room, and even going through his luggage and picking out his wardrobe on certain evenings. He admitted to being just a bit star struck, and recounted how he would turn around sometimes while he performed his two songs, just to make sure that Ringo was still there. Ringo would always look right back at him.
- Colin reflected on his own solo tour almost immediately after the Ringo tour. He mentioned that he had lived rather like a privileged prince while with Ringo, but that his own solo tour experiences were quite sobering. Specifically, he recollected one time when he was pumping his gas in his minivan while the rest of the band members slept, and thinking "Something's wrong here." When he went inside to pay, the cashier asked him about his accent (Scottish), and if he was from the "Land Down Under". Colin Hay responded that he wrote the song, but the cashier did not believe him. Just then, his manager came in, and he asked him to tell her what Hay's most famous song that he ever wrote was, and being basically brushed off by his suddenly dismissive manager, who had just woken up and was grumpy and grumbling, "I don't know". He summarized these experiences by ironically calling this "the glamour of touring".
- At one point, while tuning one of his guitars (a time consuming process usually), he noted that having to tune own instruments on stage, rather than having others do it for you, was indicative of a decline in stature. He claimed it was " the first thing to go".
- Reflecting on his overly high expectations for his second solo album, and how he had expected it to really take off. He thought it could be huge, but that, instead, it came and went like a whisper in the wind. He told the audience that he had been planning a huge tour to capitalize on the enormous success he had hoped for and expected, and that he had even hired a guy that was trying to get into the t-shirt business. Originally, he had forty dates in mind, but eventually, he had to cancel all but two dates. As a result, the t-shirts were "the saddest ever". His name was misspelled as "Colin Hat", and there were only two dates listed on the back.
-When asked by people if he was not relieved that the "eighties were coming back", he laughed this off, and asked if the eighties had just been sitting around at home all this time, and now, all of a sudden, just decided to get back out there again.
-Colin Hay said that sometimes, he could tell that some people recognized him, but hesitated or were otherwise unable to approach him. He shared a story about another time, when he was down in southern Australia, when he was sort of recognized by someone.
"You look like that guy, Colin Hay", the man said to him.
"I have same name as him, too. Weird, huh?"
The guy responded by saying that was weird.
- Colin Hay introduced one song (I unfortunately forgot which one) in this way: "This next song was a huge success.....nowhere in the world." The crowd laughed. He then mentioned that it had, indeed, become a hit in Brazil, but the success was limited only to Brazil, and how weird it was that it would be such a success in only one place.
- In introducing "Overkill", he mused on misunderstood lyrics, and how one guy he met had thought that the lyrics were "Goats appear and fade away." He wondered why it had never occurred to this guy that those lyrics were more than a little weird?
- He shared a story about how he was running from bullies one time, and how his father somehow had been parked at the end of a street, with the passenger door open. Colin jumped in, and his father had told the three pursuing bullies, "Sorry boys. Not today." He then recounted one of his father's favorite jokes, about a guy who was in a play, but without any speaking roles. Then, suddenly, someone called sick for the show, and this guy had an opportunity to speak one line : "Hark! I hear the roar of the cannons!" So, this guy keeps reciting this one line, and is ready when the play comes on. Finally, the explosion is heard, and this guy turns around and asks "What the fuck was that?"
- He finished by talking about a mother's unconditional love, and how he starred in a movie, and he and her were watching this movie together not long before she died. In the movie, his character was not a good guy, and he threw another guy in a wheelchair into a swimming pool, and then choked the guy. His mom turned to him and said the guy probably deserved it.
So, all in all, a very strong concert. Good music, good laughs, and a very good way to spend an evening! If you are on the fence and thinking of possibly attending a Colin hay concert, I for one would definitely recommend, and am sure you will not be disappointed!
I also thought that I would share some the web page that has some other reviews of previous shows from Colin Hay that people have put up on Ticketmaster, if you are interested: http://reviews.ticketmaster.com/7171/769308/colin-hay-reviews/reviews.htm?sort=helpfulness
Setlist:
Wayfaring Sons
Who Can It Be Now?
Beautiful World
Gathering Mercury
Family Man
Looking For Jack
Down Under
Overkill
Waiting For My Real Life To Begin
Goodnight Romeo
Send Somebody
I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You
Maggie
Dear Father
A Simple Song
Encore:
Going Somewhere
Into the Cornfields
The Parting Glass
Setlist Taken From: http://www.toursetlist.com/setlist/colin-hay-finding-my-dance-2013-tour-setlist-for-october-9-2013-bethel-ny-usa-bethel-woods-center-for-the-arts-6766
No comments:
Post a Comment