Long before Aussie bands like INXS, Midnight Oil, The Church, Crowded House, the Hoodoo Gurus and Hunters and Collectors — to name just a few — enjoyed fame in the US and Europe, they would earn their stripes playing before beer drenched crowds of a couple of hundred in local clubs and pubs.
Some of my fondest memories of growing up as a teenager in Sydney’s western suburbs involved consuming copious amounts of liquid amber, while rocking out to some of the best bands you’ve never heard of. A lot of my time was spent at the rough and tumble Comb and Cutter Hotel in Blacktown and the slightly up market Castle Hill RSL Club.
If those bands were any good, they’d graduate to bigger pubs and clubs – before trying their luck overseas. That’s how I experienced all of the above bands, including INXS, who’ll be playing the Wellmont in Montclair on Wednesday night (August 3), more than 30 years (yikes!) since I first saw them.
In 1979 I was barely 18, then INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence was barely 20, when they gave an explosive performance at The Comb. The sweaty, fist pumping crowd were onto something, mesmerized by the skinny, long haired front man, who exuded a powerful sexuality that most of the punters in the crowd had never seen. Their big hit was “Just Keep Walking.” The band — consisting of the Farriss brothers (Andrew, Jon and Tim) — literally played thousands of gigs all over Australia in the early 1980s before enjoying their first hit overseas when their third album Shaboo Shoobah was released in 1983. The track “The One Thing” reached number 30 on the Billboard 100 and remains one of my favorite songs to this day. I saw them many other times, but my fondest gig by far was when INXS had 85,000 people rocking at an outdoor music festival in the summer of 1983 on Sydney’s Central Coast.
Hutchence came sauntering down a set of stairs on stage and channeled Mick Jagger. His moves drove the crowd berserk. For the next two decades the band enjoyed incredible success the world over. When tragedy struck with Hutchence’s untimely passing, I still kept listening as I travelled the world. They surfaced again on the CBS series Rock Star, when the Farriss Brothers went looking for a new front man and found J.D Fortune. They recorded a new album last November with many famous singers from both the US and Australia covering some of the band’s classics. Now 32 years later – it’s somewhat ironic that they’ll be playing the town I now call home: Montclair – a long way away from my old home in Sydney. But I’ll be thinking of The Comb this Wednesday, when boys hit the stage at the Wellmont, and I’ll remember what it was like being 18.
Want tickets? Baristanet has 3 pairs to give away. We’ll give one pair each to the first three people to correctly answer one of the questions below. No duplicates answers and please don’t enter if you can’t go.
QUESTIONS:
1. What INXS song become a number one hit in the US?
2. What US performer fronted the band when they performed at the opening ceremonies of Stadium Australia in 1999?
3. What song does Train’s Pat Monahan perform on the band’s new album?
4. What do most Australians eat at football games?
For tickets and information, click here.
Photo credit to Alexis Moussine-Pouchkine.
“Original Sin” #1 song?
#3 Beautiful Girl
email
cba_100@hotmail.com
Pat Monahan sings Beutiful Girl!
Oops, sorry! Didn’t see the rules to only answer one! Just really want to see INXS!
Sorry I didn’t mean to post it. I can’t go.
Meat pies.
Question # 2
Terence Trent D’Arby
1. Need You Tonight
2.Terence Trent d’Arby
3.Beautiful Girl
4. Meat Pie
We have our winners, folks. They are:
chuckles for question #3
complainerpuss for question #4
javiermontclair for question #2
The correct answer to #1 is:
Q: What INXS song become a number one hit in the US?
A: Need You Tonight from the album, The Kick (In October, 1987)
Still waiting for javiermontclair to claim his/her prize… You out there?
Hi all … Long time reader new to comments….. My advise to Anthony is…. watch the intake of the liquid amber, the body bounces back a bit slower these days.
Loved INXS with Michael Hutchence–not sure the band can ever have the same energy and spirit without him.
Hutchence was INXS. Not really sure of the point of seeing them today. Sort of like seeing the Doors without Jim Morrison or Journey without Steve Perry.
I watched Rock Star. I thought it would be cool if Ty Taylor had won, he is from Montclair and I went to school with him since grade school. Oh well, he has been in the UK touring for the last few months with his new band so I guess he is doing ok. I bet INXS will be a good show.
I think the date is tonight 8/3 not 8/4?
I watched Rock Star too! I really liked Marty Casey – I think he was the runner-up. I never liked J.D. Fortune. I agree Michael Hutchence cannot be replaced. Grateful there wasn’t a ‘Rock Star Nirvana’.