Colin Hay brought a bit of the American Sunshine he’s used to to Manchester last week. Are You Lookin’ At Me? You bet we are Colin!
Having not seen Colin Hay live before, I was really looking forward to this. The Scotstralian man had returned to Manchester after a two year absence. I’ll tell you what, he better be back soon.
Acoustic guitar music really seems to be on the rise at the moment and after fantastic Manchester gigs from the likes of Frank Turner and Jonathan Coulton it was time for a master-class from Colin Hay. The former man at work wowed the, at least, 500 strong crowd with songs spanning his whole career.
The majority of the set came from, new album, American Sunshine. That was to be expected, well I expected it. It seemed like the majority of the crowd didn’t. Of course, people were singing along and once those who were unfamiliar got the gist of these new tracks, they were in full
voice. A few personal favourites from that album have to be, the Western movie-inspired, Water Over You, Oh California and The End Of Whilemina. I think those three songs show how good a singer/songwriter Colin is right there. The new stuff was great and really mixed into the setlist with some of his older material. The ‘older’ stuff is where the crowd really got into gear. Maggie, Beautiful World and Dreamtime In Glasgow went down an absolute storm. Here’s where you could tell, Mr. Hay was in his element.
Of course, you couldn’t have a Colin Hay gig without some ‘obligatory’ tracks being played. I know you’ve been wondering, yes he did play Land Down Under. The solo/acoustic version is a lot different from the recorded Men At Work version, but it’s still fantastic. Here’s one that everyone knew. Even those who were once disgruntled (yes, I’m talking about you; guy who was tearing into his girlfriend throughout the show) couldn’t help but sing along. This wasn’t the only Men At Work song played that night. Overkill, the song that brought Colin Hay back into the spotlight, was saved until the very end. A perfect way to end the night.
I’ve spoken a lot about the music in this review (obviously), but in between tracks Colin told tales about being on the road, playing alongside Ringo Starr, smoking weed and buying a goat to mow the lawn. This tied the whole night together and proved to everyone there that, not only is Colin a great singer/songwriter, he’s a great storyteller too. Everyone was laughing and having a good time.
Those who’ve read my stuff before know I love a bit of audience participation, be it just singing along or acting like a zombie. Colin got everyone involved during a rendition Are You Lookin’ At Me? As he sang the song it was us in the crowd who had to sing the line back. Simple, but effective.
There’s somewhat of an unsung hero of the night actually and I don’t mean the guy who got on stage to sing Land Down Under. I’m talking about, Colin’s wife, Cecelia Noel. Cecelia, a great singer in her own right, sings backing vocals for Colin and was fantastic. So hat’s off to her.
If you’re a fan of acoustic guitar music, then this is a guy you need to see. Then again, if you’re a fan of acoustic guitar music, you should already know that.
Setlist
- Oh California
- I Came Into Your Store
- Who Can It Be Now?
- Dreamtime In Glasgow
- Down Under
- Beautiful World
- There’s Water Over You
- Prison Time
- Maggie
- The End Of Whilemina
- I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You
- Are You Lookin’ At Me?
- Waiting For My Real Life To Begin
- Overkill
