James Reyne
You might think it's a little strange to be celebrating a 41st anniversary with such an extensive tour, but for James Reyne, this tour is extra special. Last year Reyne had planned to tour around the country in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the iconic album The Boys Light Up, but as we all know a pesky sickness got in the way of all of that. Speaking to Pario as he now arrives in Sydney though Reyne says "We've got a lot to make up for!"
"To be really honest I didn't even realise it was coming up," Reyne confessed when asked about his feelings surrounding the anniversary. "It was only 2019 that Scott Crawford, who manages me, reminded me that 2020 would mark 40 years since the album was released. So we figured we should at least mark it and booked a tour."
Sadly COVID intervened, as it did for a lot of turns and artists, and prevented the tour from going ahead. For Reyne, the impact of COVID on Australia as a whole was "concerning" particularly in regards to people being unable to work. However, it did bolster his determination to celebrate the record as soon as it was safe to do so. Hence the 41st-anniversary tour came to be.
When asked why he felt this particular record and singe had such longevity Reyne said, "I think it was just in the ether a lot, so it got stuck in people's subconscious."
Over the past 41 years since the release of The Boys Light Up the way music is delivered to us has been revolutionised. So we had to ask Reyne what he thinks this means for the industry and whether songs will stick with people like The Boys Light Up has.
"I think that the way music is delivered now with streaming services means that tend to gravitate towards one particular song rather than buying a whole album. I certainly do that now, when I think 'Oh I like that song' I go and download that individual track. Whereas when I was a teenager you had to go out and buy the whole album whenever your favourite band released a new one... Ultimately though, every age, every era, and every generation has its own songs."
Returning to chatting about the tour Reyne explained why they had chosen to plan such an extensive run of dates and locations.
"As I said, we've got to make up for a lot of shows that got cancelled or postponed last year... We've made sure that there are a lot of shows so that we can get to all of the places that we want to get to."
When asked what fans can expect from these shows Reyne answered by saying: "It will be a really good cross-section of Australian Crawl stuff and my solo stuff. It will be a really good hour-and-a-half show. Everyone is going to know the songs. It's just a good show with a great band playing all of the stuff that you hopefully know and love."
Jun 6 & Nov 27. Enmore Theatre, 118-132 Enmore Rd, Newtown. $65-$75+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.enmoretheatre.com.au
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