The Fabulous Caprettos, Jason Ayres @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 25/7/2025
Put together four icons of Australian rock with Jack Jones, Rai Thistlethwayte, Dave Gleeson and Joe Camilleri, and throw in another legend with Wendy Mathews, and you have a pretty good recipe for a great night of music – and they didn’t disappoint!
Jason Ayres from Perth started the show with an excellent mix of his own compositions and some covers which had his own spin on them. Jason is a polished performer and has opened for many local artists and some big international ones including Dionne Warwick, Billy Ocean and America to name but a few. In his set he gave us a glimpse of some new material including One River and The Highway – a song he wrote as a letter to himself to remember the moments on the road because “the highway won’t remember you”.
His covers were of a couple of iconic songs: Sonny & Cher’s Bang Bang and Chris Isaak’s Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing. But it was his own work that really drew the crowd in, taking in the wonderful lyrics and the stories behind them.
The Fabulous Caprettos set started with the unmistakable opening riff of The Black Sorrows’ Daughters of Glory as the band entered the stage. The rest of the show rotated through each Capretto’s most memorable and legendary songs from their respective bands: Jack’s Southern Sons, Rai’s Thirsty Merc, Dave’s Screaming Jets, Joe’s The Black Sorrows and Wendy’s solo work.
Joe Camilleri is the ultimate performer, so I thought it was fitting that one of his songs started the show. For me it is his saxophone (one of my favourite instruments) that sets him apart. He used it on several of his own tracks as well as in some of the songs by his compatriots. He gave us some insight to the background of Harley And Rose and treated us to an extended sax solo for Shape I’m In (Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons). It also seemed fitting that the main set finished with the Black Sorrows’ Chained To The Wheel.
Jack Jones is a wizard on lead guitar, and he stole the show with it on many occasions. We were treated to some Southern Sons classics such as Heart in Danger – with some exceptional saxophone thrown in by the sax-king Joe Camilleri. When Jack did a solo acoustic song, he told us Joe wanted him to change his song – citing jokingly that “anyone who knows Joe know the Joe get what he wants”. So, he changed the song to Gold – and it certainly was!
Rai Thistlethwayte’s keyboard playing lends itself to the laid-back Thirsty Merc songs – very evident in 20 Good Reasons and Someday, Someday. However, he traded the keyboard for a slightly out-of-tune guitar (though he said “we can work with that”) for In The Summertime.
Dave Gleeson did most of the between-tracks commentary, but it was his selection of Screaming Jets songs that lifted the tempo and had the audience singing along – most notably with Helping Hand and Better.
Wendy Matthews is a great (temporary?) addition to the Caprettos lineup and her powerful voice provided some great backing for the other stars. Her own songs really showcased her voice: Woman’s Gotta Have It, Love Will Keep Me where I’m home Alive, the Absent Friends song I Don’t Want To Be With Nobody But You, and the standout being the haunting The Day You Went Away performed solely with Rai on the keys.
After all this had ended, and the crowd yelling for more, we did get a one-song encore. Ironically it was a cover of The Animals’ We Gotta Get Out Of This Place – which certainly capped off two hours of fantastic music.
Live Review by John Glennie