|
|
07/03/00 - SYDNEY ENTERTAINMENT
CENTRE, SYDNEY Review by Vicki Hails:
After opening
his first Sydney show with Back to You, Bryan said "Hi, I'm Bryan" this
was met with a resounding "Hi Bryan" back from the crowd. Believe me,
everyone was well into the next few songs, 18 Til I Die, Can't Stop This Thing
We Started, Summer of 69 and It's Only Love, especially
those that were on the floor. I was pretty disappointed with our seats, which
were to the right of the stage, back about 8 rows, but none the less was just
so excited to be there it didn't really matter.
Bryan had his usual banter
prior to playing Everything I Do...which was just brilliant. His voice is simply
amazing...he then sang OADLT and Getaway, before singing Remember - after which
he mentioned that he didn't expect many people to know it as it was an old track
and that they liked to indulge themselves every once in a while. It was a great
track and heaps of people were singing along towards the end, so it didn't take
them long to pick up the tune.
At this point he started this huge build
up of maestro Keith's guitar playing ability as he introduced Have You Ever Really
Loved A Woman. He asked for the spotlight to be put on Keith, and after several
attempts (which I don't doubt were intentional) they managed to get it on Keith,
not Bryan. Bryan continued to goad Keith that there was no pressure, that he shouldn't
be nervous etc, and to start playing whenever he was ready ... Keith stood there
over emphasising his shaking hands, etc. He played the first few bars and someone
yelled out "This is my song". Bryan said "Wait a minute" which
Keith did, and he stood there, hands on hips looking into the crowd, saying "This
is Keith's moment, lets try that again", and he again started to say there
was no pressure, etc. The crowd really enjoyed Bryan's interaction and they did
eventually start the song. While I don't want to take anything away from Keith,
Bryan's performance was simply superb - and at the end of the song he applauded
Keith which I found quite inspiring. This was followed with I Don't Wanna Live
Forever and Cut's Like a Knife, which as usual required the crowd to provide the
Na, Na, Na's. The crowd was doing fine with this, but it still wasn't up to BA's
expectations, so took a while for him to be happy with our performance :-)) They
followed this with C'mon, C'mon, C'mon.
At this point I don't doubt Bryan
need to catch his breath. He had the lights turned up, and asked for a volunteer
to come up and help him sing. After some deliberation, he chose Daniella from
Liverpool. Bryan did ask some guys in the audience to make way and asked what
had happened to chivalry in Australia as she had trouble getting through the crowds
at one point! Daniella was far from shy, and when asked what she did - she replied
"Whatever you want me to do". I honestly don't know if she meant this
to sound how it sounded or whether it was a genuine misunderstanding of his question,
but the crowd roared with laughter. Bryan was silent for a moment, but then put
his arm around her said, "Goodnight everyone, thanks for coming." and
made like they were leaving. When he asked if she knew the words to When You're
Gone, she then confessed that she couldn't sing, to which he replied, "too
bad, just make as much noise as you can". What she lacked in singing talents,
she made up for with her "performance" - the crowd gave her a great
response - and Bryan referred to her as one of the best pieces of custard they'd
had on stage. As she took several bows, he commented "Five minutes on stage
and you think you're Kylie Minogue" which again resulted in a roar from the
crowd. It was great to see and it wasn't just BA and Daniella having a good time,
the audience really enjoyed it.
I'm Ready, You're Still Beautiful To Me
and Heaven followed before getting up tempo again with Before The Night Is Over
and The Blues Jam. I swear every woman in the audience was drooling as he just
oozes sex appeal during this song and they finished up with The Only Thing That
Looks Good On Me, which had heaps of people up on their feet. I must confess I
remember this as the opener for the 18 Til I Die tour, and think it would have
been great to start with again; however it was also a great track to finish with
as well and really left the crowd wanting more as they said goodnight and left
the stage.
After much clapping and yelling, they re-appeared for the encore
and got stuck into Cloud #9 - which sounded fantastic live, it really does gain
something that I don't think either of the recorded versions have captured. This
was followed by Somebody and then The Best Of Me, which was really well received,
given it's hardly had any airplay in Sydney. Run to You was next, and was as always
amazing to hear live. Bryan said that a guy down the front had been pestering
him all night to sing a certain song...so he got his acoustic guitar, and said
he was going to play When The Night Comes, a song he'd never recorded but written
for one of his favourite performers, Joe Cocker. It was great to hear.
With
that, Bryan took a few more bows and then left the stage - that was it - another
fantastic performance. Setlist:
Back To You
Can't
Stop This Thing We Started
Summer Of '69
It's Only Love
Everything I
Do
On A Day Like Today
Getaway
Remember
Have You Ever Really Loved
A Woman?
I Don't Wanna Live Forever
Cuts Like A Knife
C'mon C'mon C'mon
When
You're Gone (with Danielle from Liverpool)
I'm Ready
You're Still Beautiful
To Me
Heaven
Before The Night Is Over
Blues Jam
The Only Thing That
Looks Good On Me Is You
Cloud #9
Somebody
The Best Of Me
Run To You
When
The Night Comes | | |
