On Friday night I stepped back to the 80s for the Tears for Fears/Spandau Ballet show at Sydney’s Entertainment Centre. Thankfully despite the years that had passed since these monster acts last graced our shores, nothing much has changed. From the enthusiastic crowd reactions to the high quality of the bands, it was as if we’d all never left the decade that fashion forgot.
Jack Jones opened the show with a low-key, yet utterly compelling set. It’s no secret that I love acoustic music, and hearing the songs he made famous with Southern Sons in this raw way was just beautiful. With his long scraggy mo and similarly unkempt hair Jack is a far cry from the man I swooned over all those years ago, but his voice has lost nothing over the years. It’s still as pure and strong as it ever was, and hits like “Hold Me In Your Arms” and “You Were There” really showed off his pipes. It’s a shame there were so many empty seats. 7 pm is an early start time for a weekday show, but I have a feeling the people who missed him might kick themselves.
Tears for Fears followed Jack with an energetic, hit-packed set. Within the first four songs we’d already heard “Mad World,” “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” and “Sowing The Seeds of Love,” so I was beginning to wonder what else was left! But they played much longer, and while I wasn’t as familiar with most of the latter half of the set it was all brilliant stuff. Their modern take on “Woman in Chains,” complete with a freakishly feminine sounding male back-up singer in Oleta Adams’ place, was particularly incredible, as was the big closer, “Shout.” I wasn’t a massive Tears for Fears fan in the 80s, but these guys have converted me. The voices of Roland Orzabel and Curt Smith have lost nothing over the years, and they’re performing with as much energy and musical prowess as I’d expect from performers many years their junior.
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