Men At Work, Birds of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe, Boom Crash Opera, Ella Hooper, Australian Crawl, James Reyne, e Colin Hay

Men at Work provide an explosive concert experience. Greg explodes with almost no warning into a frenzied flurry of fingers and flute before Simon explodes into song and the clapping around me takes on a rhythm that almost blocks out the rest of the band. Not to be outdone by their own audience the band picks up the tempo and the room fills with sweet down-under accents I remember so well from my childhood.

Hilarious dancing and jumping breaks out on the stage while Greg skillfully handles his solos and sets a staccato beat for the clapping rhythm. While the ethereal vocals and skillful playing of the other members is interesting Greg Ham is the real focus for me. He switches seamlessly from flute to saxophone and again sets both the rhythm for the audience and the tempo for the band. His solos show an intense concentration while the other members dance around and enjoy themselves.

Eschewing a fancy setup the bands equipment is easily visible making the instrument changes for Greg easier and forcing the focus to remain on the band and nothing else. There are a few lights high above the band shedding small swaths of coloured light onto the band. The vocal harmonization in an otherwise staccato song leaves me in awe of the bands talent.

When you are chosen to be the opening act for Muse, you know you must be pretty great at putting on a live show. Well if you’ve been lucky enough to see ‘Birds of Tokyo’ live, then you will be sure to be in agreement that this is indeed the case.

Hailing from Perth, Australia, the band that took their name from a newspaper article about the absence of birds in Tokyo, are a phenomenal live act. Lead singer Ian Kenny has vocals powerful enough to boom through an entire arena and the band seem much more at home on stages of this magnitude, rather than the smaller theatre-style venues that they have played regularly in the past.

Stadium rock at it’s finest, the crowd roars at opening number ‘Laterns’ with it’s unrelenting drums and buzzing guitars, showcasing that this band have potential to be respected alongside some of the finest rock bands of today. “On we march, with a midnight song. We will light our way, with our laterns on”, is what they sing, and march on they will. Birds of Tokyo are a gem amongst the gravel of the rock music industry and should be seen to be appreciated.

Eskimo Joe is the alternative rock band from East Fremantle, Western Australia. They have released five additional albums since their debut album was released in 2001. Like many bands they formed at high school, and built their career from there, all the way up to signing a record deal with Universal Records and their first album “Girl’ achieving Gold status. They have even won eight ARIA awards too. Tonight, their performance is all about their string of singles that they have had over the last 8 years or so. They open with “Wake Up” which is the song that gets this audience on their feet. The guitars are slightly driven through large valve combos from the sixties that they have most likely spent tireless hours working on the perfect tone. They have such a good rapport with the audience too. “Smoke”, “Sarah” and “Foreign Land” are such good songs in the middle of the set to maintain the vibe and just keep the party going. Fair play, Eskimo Joe.

James Reyne is another classic case of a member of a classic band going solo and having lots of classic solo singles…or something like that. Whatever the case, formally of the band Australian Crawl, James Reyne’s solo career has been just as fruitful as his former act’s.

With his classic rock and roll vibes, James always puts on a confident show that would entice even those not familiar with his songs. He sings with the confidence and power of a real student of rock, with a voice that hasn’t lost any of its impact over the years of his career. The songs range from touching ballads, likely to pull a hear string or two, to classic rock and roll goodtime jams, which ignite the crowd into moving and shaking.

On occasion he’ll even treat fans to a few of Australian Crawl’s classic jams, a real treat for those in the crowd that have been following James since day one, and I imagine there are quite a few of them on any given night. Whatever incarnation he’s appeared in, James has always continued to win over new fans with his performances and I see no reason for that to stop any time soon.

When I first saw Colin Hay play solo, in Manchester some years back, he broke off from regaling the crowd with a tour anecdote to reassure them, “don’t worry, we’ll get through at least three songs tonight.” He was on stage for well over two hours, but got through maybe sixteen songs in that time; the rest of the show was taken up by stories, jokes and interaction with the crowd. Frankly, you wouldn’t have it any other way; the former Men at Work frontman is a genuinely funny guy, and it was as much a delight to hear him share stories of awkward dinners with a soon-to-be-divorced Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, or drinking sessions with Russell Crowe, as it was to hear him play tracks from a formidable back catalogue. The crowds at his shows are looking a little younger these days, and it’s telling as to what - or rather, who - has afforded him some recent popularity; Hay guest-starred on Scrubs and had a song featured on the soundtrack for Zach Braff’s Garden State. Often backed by his wife on backing vocals, he includes plenty of his finest solo cuts - ‘Waiting for My Real Life to Begin’ and ‘Beautiful World’ included - as well as classic Men at Work material, reworked for the acoustic guitar, including ‘Overkill’ and the recently-contentious ‘Down Under’. Should he return to the UK on his current ‘Finding My Dance’ run, you’d be as well-advised to track him down for his quick wit as his fine songwriting; Hay’s a real entertainer.