LIVE: SPANDAU BALLET – Perth, 22 May, 2015

Shane | 28 May 2015 | Reply

LIVE: SPANDAU BALLET
Perth Arena, Western Australia, Friday, 22 May, 2015
Reviewed by Trulie Pinnegar
Photography by Maree King

Suited and booted, groomed and tuned, the Spandau Ballet boys attacked their Perth show head on and didn’t let up for night on 2 hours!

Starting off with Soul Boys, and following on with classics including Only When I Leave and Chant No. 1, they started out as they meant to go on. They may have lost the crowd a little bit with their new tracks and their more obscure early material but that said more about the crowd (who, from where 100% ROCK were sitting must not have seen their recent documentary movie ‘Soul Boys Of The Western World’ or be die hard fans!) than it said about the boys.

They were respectful in keeping these tracks interspersed with the well-known familiar tracks which revved the crowd back up.

Tony Hadley was in top form and note perfect. Their trip down The Blitz memory lane was accompanied by clips from the movie being played behind them. It was evident that the boys really enjoyed themselves on stage, which only added to the fun for the audience.

Drummer John Keeble and multi-instrumentalist Steve Norman didn’t fail to impress – this was RAW rockin’ pop ‘n’ roll!

[Show picture list]

A lovely touch and special treat for the crowd at the back of the arena came when Hadley and guitarist Gary Kemp escaped to a small stage at the sound board where Kemp tickled notes on a double-necked acoustic guitar to serenade the crowd with Empty Spaces and tease us with a sample of Gold.

The set was simple yet hugely effective – twinkly stage lights and a video screen constantly flashing scenes of days gone by.

As the final leg of the performance took hold, all the crowd were up and dancing – young and old, boy and girl. The short wait for the encore did not disappoint – another short clip of the movie entertained us before the boys returned with Barricades… the crowd were respectfully quiet whilst Hadley crooned the haunting ballad… when the acoustic section ended to lead into the full band crescendo, goosebumps appeared. This, coupled with an absolute classic finale, made sure this show was in every way… GOLD!!!

Set List:
Soul Boy
Highly Strung
Only When You Leave
How Many Lies
Round and Round
This Is the Love
Steal
Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On)
Blitz Medley: Age of Blows Intro / Reformation / Mandolin / Confused / The Freeze
To Cut a Long Story Short
Raw
Glow
Empty Spaces (Acoustic on B Stage)
Gold (First verse/chorus acoustic on B Stage)
Once More
I’ll Fly for You
Instinction
Communication
Lifeline
True