Leo Sayer @ Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide 6/4/2019
With no fanfare but a huge roar from the crowd Leo Sayer took the Thebarton Theatre stage with a four piece band belting out his big and boisterous hit Thunder in My Heart. From the cheers of the packed crowd who were excited to see this 70 years young music legend he didn’t disappoint.
Hit after hit and some cheeky Sayer humour was the order of the night and it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a show where I could sing along and laugh throughout. While slowing it down after Thunder in my Heart with the crooning More Than I Can Say I found myself swaying and getting all nostalgic. So were the audience as you could hear them singing along knowing all the words confirming that a good well crafted song never dies.
Two songs in, Sayer introduced his band and he had nothing but love for these guys. Deservedly so as they were old school pro’s jamming like it was so natural to play. Sayer cheekily played up the NSW/VIC rivalry saying that half his band were from NSW while the other half from Victoria. Being in Adelaide of course there were louder boos for the VIC’s!
Bill Revesby was on keyboards, Paul Burton on guitar, Mitch Cairns on bass and Mark Kennedy on drums. When someone of the crowd yelled out “what about you Leo?” Sayer quickly replied “I’m just a guy that sings in a band.” Then proceeds to ask us “Weren’t the opening act great? The Silencers!” Referencing the fact there was no opening act. But who needs an opening act when you have Leo Sayer and the band. What a humble, funny and an all-round great guy that Leo is!
We heard Sayer sing all the big hits One Man Band, The Show Must Go On, Moonlighting before rocking out the harmonica on songs like The Restless Years, To The River and Raining In My Heart then finishing the first half of the show with the beautiful Have You Ever Been in Love.
After a brief interval the second half went into full swing complete with a costume change. Well a change of new shirt and jacket. One that Sayer described as his “Miami drug dealer shirt.” It was a bit like a costume from Scarface but Sayer’s shirt wasn’t just the funniest thing. His several attempts to pronounce Thebarton Theatre was a hilarious piss-take on how interstaters love to miss-pronounce our beloved Thebarton Theatre. Oh Leo you know Adelaide so well and that’s why we love you!
With each hit the audience sang along with gusto. Mixing the sentimental and the slow with hits Dancing The Night Away and Orchard Road even adding the Cliff Richard hit Dreamin’. One committed fan couldn’t contain herself and braved those around her to get up and dance. Something I wish more people did. That didn’t happen until the classic You Make Me Feel Like Dancing came on and that was it! The crowd jumped to their feet, some rushing to the front. The audience were mindful and respectful of everyone around returning to their seats to enjoy the rest of the show after the song. Bravo to security for allowing this as it left many fans happy and excited.
The last few songs of the night were a mix of dance and ballad favourites Long Tall Glasses, When I Need You where the crowd finished off the lyrics each time Sayer stopped singing and finishing on the boppy How Much Love. By this stage most of the audience where on their feet dancing away like it was the 70s again!
Coming back for the encore and ending the night with the songs Just A Boy, the title of the tour and I Can’t Stop Loving You. Sayer declared “The tour is Just a Boy at 70 but I’m Just a Boy with a mental age of 14.”
Declaring how he feels being in Adelaide “seeing all these happy and good looking faces in the crowd” Sayer sung his heart out and can give the other 70 year old, Mick Jagger a run for his money for stamina and stage presence as well. Old rockers never die they just get better and better and Adelaide certainly “can’t stop loving” Leo Sayer!
Live Review By Anastasia Lambis