Finding my Dance
Reviewed by: Rowan James – AussieTheatre.com
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Colin Hay, best known as the frontman of Men at Work, has reinvented himself for a new generation of audiences. His voice and music is as familiar as ever, but there is a new simplicity to his performance. There’s no band. There’s no fanfare. There is just a man, his guitar, a couple of amusing stories and some great songs.
Colin Hay. Finding my Dance
Colin Hay’s show, Finding My Dance, is a gem. While he has been touring with the show for some time, it has evolved and matured into a well-polished and ever engaging 100-minute performance. Indeed, it seems as though the show changes daily – Hay quickly established that the audience at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide was an adult crowd and his vernacular (and one assumes a collection of his stories) was well suited to the audience. The show was worlds away from his parallel ‘family show’.
Colin Hay regaled his audience with tales of fame, fortune, friends (a pretty hilarious story about Paul McCartney) and of course his troubles. The recent media frenzy and ultimate ruling against Men at Work’s hit song ‘Down Under’ was met with his philosophical response – they can take the money, but they can never touch the pride felt in performing such an iconic song.
And the audience at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide was not disappointed in Colin Hay’s solo rendition of ‘Down Under’. With a number of Men at Work hits (‘Overkill’ and ‘Who Can It Be Now?) as well as several solo hits (‘I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You’ and ‘Beautiful World’) there was no chance of musical tedium. His voice is so familiar and was wonderfully engineered for the expansive stage of Her Majesty’s Theatre.
It was the humourous musings of the Scottish immigrant (love his accent) that were the highlight for me. In fact, he is funnier than a lot of stand up comedians, and his response to hecklers was effortless.
Colin Hay may have lost his dance, and now been searching for it for 20 years (I’m not sure he’ll ever find it). But who cares? He hasn’t lost his voice or his quick wit – and that’s what he’s all about.
For more information on Australian tour dates, visit www.colinhay.com
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