You don’t get the true legends of soul music travelling half way around the world to serve as a backing band for someone unless they’ve proven that they have enormous talent.
Pauline and I went to the Perth Concert Hall on Saturday for the final show of Guy Sebastian‘s Memphis Tour. His touring band featured members of the legendary MGs.
You might know Steve “The Colonel” Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn from the Blues Brothers movie or from their work with Booker T and the MGs. Steve Cropper co-wrote songs like Dock of the Bay with Otis Redding as well as co-writing classics like Midnight Hour and Knock on Wood.
They brought fellow Memphis musicians, Lester Snell and Steve Potts with them to Australia and rounded out the band with some amazing Australian musicians.
They performed songs like Soul Man, Hold On I’m Coming, Hard To Handle, Under the Boardwalk, Lets Stay Together and finished up with a fantastic version of Shake Ya Tail Feather.
A highlight for me was when the band gave us a very tasty rendition of the Booker T and the MGs classic instrumental, Green Onions.
I’ve been to dozens of concerts and seen some of the world’s best performing and I’d have to say that this concert would be up there with the very, very best of them. When you get a band like that together the music is never in doubt. Match that level of musicianship with the extraordinary vocal talents of Guy Sebatian and you have an act that would impress audiences anywhere in the world.
If all you’ve ever seen or heard of Guy is his Australian Idol performances and his pop hit singles, as impressive as they are, you haven’t even begun to discover just how good he really is.
Looking around the audience it was obvious that it was a mixture of people who were there to see Guy and those who were there to see some living legends of soul music. I’m sure that those who simply wanted to see the band went home as true Guy Sebatian fans and that Guy’s fans went home totally sold out to soul music.
I interviewed Guy on 98.5 Sonshine FM back in October last year about The Memphis Album and about the upcoming tour. Back then he revealed that the MGs would join him on tour for the first time on Perth radio. The picture in this post was taken at the time of that interview. You can hear about his experience recording the album and working with the legends of soul music by clicking the play button on the audio player in this post.
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What a great review. I also went and loved every second!
Thanks, Sally. It certainly was an amazing time.
I’ve been a big fan of the MGs for quite some time and more recently of Guy so it was a real treat to have them performing together.
Thanks for the great and very accurate review Rodney. My husband and I attended in Queensland and couldn’t agree more. The band were simply awesome, and the interaction between Guy and the guys just added to the whole.
Loved the way Steve might lead Guy up some path, and then Guy might decide to go with a note and lead Steve another way. A true musicians’ jam session, by absolute mega-talented professionals. Its not often you get a concert where all participants seemed on par (legendary) and made the air absolutely fizz with music and excitement. When a show seems only half the time it actually was, THAT is a show!
Thanks for dropping in, Prins.
Yes, the interaction was tremendous. It was very apparent that there was a lot of respect between everyone on stage.
I just wish that I could have taken everyone in Perth to the show so that they’d know just how good soul music can be.
Fantastic review, I have attended several of these concerts around the country & was never disappointed once, they were all slightly different due to the great musicianship of Guy & the Mg’s. One of the best concerts I have ever been to. I wish Guy would come to Perth more often so people could see how talented he was/ Green Onions fantastic/ Guy’s new songs along with the Mg’s backing, couldn’t ask for more. Brilliance.
Lucky you, Vivien. I would have loved to have seen the concert more than once.
Guy proved himself to be an all round entertainer. It’s wasn’t just the music – he had brilliant comic timing and the ability to engage the audience with his banter.
When some performers try to talk to the audience you just wish they’d shut up and get on with the music. 🙂 When Guy or Steve were talking to the audience, everyone was captivated by what they had to say.
I know what you mean about incredible musicians! I went and saw Harry Connick Jr with his big band at the Opera House last night. It made me want to jump on the next plane to New Orleans. Harry was very entertaining – we had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard! The music was fantastic. If he comes over your way, go and see the concert – even if you’re not too familiar with his stuff. I only knew a few of the songs they did last night, but i still had a blast!
Paula, Harry’s in Perth this Sunday night. I’d love to see him perform but unfortunately I don’t have the dollars. The good part is that it’s an outdoor concert so I might be able to ‘hang around’ and still get to hear some of his music. 🙂
I’m a massive Guy fan, and have been to many of his shows (i think the official count is 19?)….and i REALLY enjoyed this show but to be 100% honest I think some of his previous ones have been better. Like, this one was only 10/10, the other concerts have been 13/10! I’ve come away from seeing him in the past absolutely speechless (which is a rarity for me cos i talk lots!) and completely and totally in awe of his talent and his band. Don’t get me wrong, i REALLY loved this concert but it just didn’t affect me the same as some of his others – maybe cos Soul isn’t quite MY kind of music and I hadn’t heard of Steve Cropper etc before the Memphis Album (hey I’m Generation Y – so shoot me :)). Still great, but keep going to see his other shows too, it’s worth every cent.
Shelley, I haven’t had the opportunity to see Guy before so I guess that I’ve got nothing to compare. I would certainly be interested in seeing him perform again whatever music style he was doing.
Of course the fact that I’ve seen Steve and Duck about 20 times in the Blues Brothers did add an extra dimension to the show for me. 🙂
I’m a big fan of the music they played and when I talked to Guy last year it was obvious that that’s the kind of music he’s passioante about. You could just see it in his face that he was so pleased to be playing with these legends.
I guess that’s one of Guy’s big attractions. He can produce music that will appeal to so many different audiences.
when the band played green onions it was just incredible!!
they did film parts of a previous show rodney….we are all *hoping*
for a re-release of the cd with concert footage DVD in a few months *all fingers and toes crossed*