It’s been a coming of age so to speak since ROACHFORD last toured Australia. Twenty-one years to be exact. This tour had to be one of my most anticipated tours of the year. I missed out on seeing him during that first tour of Australia when he did a few shows in our country. At the time he was one of the biggest artists in the planet. His “Permanent Shade Of Blue” album was sitting on top of our charts, and you simply couldn’t escape the impact of the singles ‘Lay Your Love On Me’ and ‘Only To Be With You’. What has changed in these twenty-one years between visits? Being a fan of ROACHFORD and his career, hearing the rave reviews of the Adelaide and Perth shows, I had to witness this show for myself. Was it worthy of the words I had read or and could I add something to those words? Read on to find out.
Warming up an already near capacity 170 Russell is Sydney sider Pop/rock/blues man Jack Bratt. Tonight’s solo set was a departure from the polished goodness that was his 2022 album ‘Slow Release’. This was a side of Bratt that I hadn’t heard before. It was raw yet emotive, light and dark, dirty and clean. It showcased Bratt’s chops as a guitarist and saw the songs performed as you would imagine they were written, stripped back.
His red, white and blue sparkle Fender Telecaster simply sang, wailed and mesmerised. His voice is soulful and gritty sat beautifully with this guitar tone.
Tonight’s set of originals has Hendrix classic ‘Little Wing’ injected into it and allowed Bratt the freedom to channel the great himself.
While sounding quite different to what you get on the album, Bratts set opened a portal to the inner workings of this man as he delivered a mighty fine set of songs.
JACK BRATT GALLERY
The main event was here. As an intro tape played, the band took to the stage one by one taking their places. Australian legend and son of Aussie icon Jimmy Barnes, Jackie Barnes is the drummer for the Australia/New Zealand shows. Jimmy and Andrew Roachford have history too and I can imagine that this is where the connection came from. The pair collaborated on ‘Attention’ from Jimmy’s 2005 album “Double Happiness” album.
Long time touring members guitarist Chris Taylor and bassist David Levey rounds out the quartet that was about to take us all on a ride through a career that has so many incredible songs.
The cheer as Andrew Roachford took to the stage was deafening. Rochford’s smile simply beamed as if he was coming home to visit family and see loved ones again for the first time in a very long time. That smile stayed the entire night and Melbourne welcomed him, his band and his songs with such open arms.
Humorous and charming in his between song words you could feel a real sincerity and genuine gratitude that we were all here to share in this evening with Roachford and that is exactly how it felt. It was connected, intimate and very much like an audience with. 170 Russell is a mid-sized room and holds around 1000 and tonight we were crammed in, it certainly was at capacity. Tonight’s crowd were aged between mid-twenties through to people in their sixties, most knew every word to every song.
Andrew Roachford is an entertainer, musician and might fine voice. His band are all incredible musicians and look to be having the time of their lives on stage.
The set list tonight was a taste of all things Roachford with some superb covers. The first being a soulful rendition of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ which simply gave me chills and was the first time tonight things seemed to slow down after the first four songs and everyone dancing and singing.
Watching Roachford perform is simply. A treat, when he isn’t behind his keyboard, he is a fully fledged frontman commanding the stage. The versatility he displays is incredible. The band just groove and drive these songs with the perfect mix of funk, RnB, dance grooves and soul, it really is one heck of a great time.
The hits were all there too with ‘Lay Your Love On Me’, ‘Cuddly Toy’ and ‘Only To Be With You’ getting the most eruptive and engaged reactions of the night.
By the end of tonight we got to see inside the musical mind of Andrew Roachford as he paid homage to some of the greatest singer, songwriters this world has ever had in his solo medley. Tonight, I feel like I got to see performances by greats like Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, James Brown and Marvin Gaye to name just a few, all halos to the aura that is Andrew Roachford.
My only criticism of tonight set was that it didn’t feature more of his more recent material, songs like Wonder Woman from the “Then & Now” album deserved to be in the set at a bare minimum.
It’s rare that a publication reviews two shows from the same tour these days but mark my words this was worthy of a second review. It was absolutely everything I had hoped for and then some. I just hope it doesn’t take another twenty-one years for Roachford to return … something tells me it won’t.
If you have been on the fence about seeing any of the remaining Australian and New Zealand shows, get off it and grab a ticket wherever you can, it’s an amazing night of music.
Setlist: The Doctor, High On Love, The Way I Feel, Love Remedy, Ain’t No Sunshine, All The Love, Ride The Storm, Carry You, Lay Your Love On Me, This Generation, Cry For Me, Wonderwall / Sexual Healing / A Change Is Gonna Come / Dancing in the Dark / Over My Shoulder, Free Falling, Get Ready, Cuddly Toy, Only To Be With You.
With thanks to Metropolis Touring for the media accreditation
All image credits Shot by Slaidins Photography
ROACHFORD GALLERY
