David Campbell @ Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide 20/6/2025

David Campbell fans were treated to a non-stop evening of Motown, swing, pop and good ol’ rock’n’roll as part of the twenty fifth Anniversary of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

As the lights dimmed, the sound of James Brown’s Turn Me Loose, I’m Dr Feelgood belted out of the sound system and eventually the band members filtered onto the stage. Drummer Joe cut in towards the end of the intro and took control as JB faded out, then a rousing reception for the star of the show and straight into Keep On Running followed by Baby Now That I’ve Found You and then a rollicking version of Yeh Yeh. – all off his 2008 Good Lovin’ album.

During the trio of hits David reminisced about being Director of the Cabaret Festival fifteen years ago when his first baby, Leo, was born and Natalie Cole was the headline act. David’s chats between tracks were entertaining in their own right, such as when starting out he went to America to work out what style he wanted to do. It was freeing for him being the son of a famous singer they had never heard of – with the surname Campbell they asked: “is it Glen?”.

David played the role of his long-time idol Bobby Darin. When reading the book Dream Lover, David was astounded at the similarities to his own life: raised by his grandmother who he thought was his mother, believing his mother was his sister, and not finding out who his father was until later in life. He said Bobby didn’t find out until his thirties “that his Dad, and I couldn’t believe it, Jimmy Barnes! The reach that man had…”

We were then treated to several Bobby Darin songs: Dream Lover, Splish Splash and a jazzed-up version of Things performed with back-up singer Vienna. David told us about his journey through discovering other genres of music after SHOUT! and discovering The Rascals. He gave a beautiful rendition of their song How Can I Be Sure followed by an equally outstanding version of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

The pace picked up with Jackie Wilson Said – featuring his brass duo and the audience joining in the chorus. Vienna joined in again with You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling – a song David recorded with Jimmy Barnes. After another hilarious story about his ten-year old twins, Billy and Betty, the band members drifted off-stage. We were treated to She with David backed up only by the pianist, who then also left the stage and his drummer of twenty three years, Joe, snuck back on. They presented an unexpected, but fascinating, version of Begin The Beguine supported solely by drums and bongos!

After a soulful version of Matt Finish’s Short Note we were back in Cabaret mode with a jazzy Sugar Pie Honey Bunch. Vienna joined in again with Hold On before an exceptional cover of With A Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker’s Woodstock version – not the original Beatles one!). This song really highlighted the quality of his outstanding band – and David’s amazing vocal range.

At this stage, eighty minutes into the show, David yelled out “no more ballads, no more Cabaret, it’s Friday night and we are going to party for the last weekend of the twenty fifth Anniversary Cabaret Festival” – and boy, it was a party from then on! Continuous hits flowed on including Good Lovin’, Tainted Love, Come On Eileen, Devil With The Blue Dress / Good Golly Miss Molly medley, Suspicious Minds. Not unexpectedly, he finished the show with SHOUT! which had everyone up and dancing.

David Campbell doesn’t write songs, he only does covers but does them damned well and puts his own spin on these classic songs. A great show to wind up the final weekend of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

Adelaide Cabaret Review by John Glennie

Photo Credit: Naomi Jellicoe