This past Saturday Amber and I checked out Colin Hay at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills. If you're unfamiliar with the name, Hay is the former front man of Men At Work and also had a hit song from the 2004 Garden State soundtrack entitled I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You.
I hadn't been there before and it's a great venue to check out a live show. It's one of those deals where you buy the tickets for the show but then you either have to buy "dinner" to get a table or chance it out and try to get standing room only at the bar or on the dance floor. Not feeling like standing for three hours we opted for the dinner option. It was about what I expected. Average food that was really overpriced. Not bad though but not the quality comparative to what the price was.
Originally, the bill was supposed to be Colin Hay with Lazlo Bane opening (they sing the theme song for SCRUBS and also do a killer cover of Men at Work's Overkill) but for some reason they weren't there so there was no opening band.
At 9:00 Colin hit the stage alone, accompanied by only a spotlight and an acoustic guitar and did a rendition of the aforementioned ...Get Over You and as the song progressed his band slowly came onto stage and joined in. From that moment on we were treated to one of the best live shows I've had the privelage of seeing.
He did every song you'd want him to do from his Men At Work days including Overkill, Who Can It Be?, It's A Mistake and the show closers Down Under and Be Good Johnny. I can't imagine how many times in his career that he's played these songs but there was no weariness at all. He tore into each rendition as if the song were fresh right out of the box.
In addition to the hits, he also did Men At Work numbers like Down By The Sea and I Can See It In Your Eyes.
I became a fan of Hay after seeing do an acoustic rendition of Overkill on SCRUBS and I sought out some of his solo stuff. I was thrilled to hear some of those songs as well, such Beautiful World and the heart breaking, yet inspiring, Waiting For My Real Life To Begin. There were also some surprises from his solo catalog like Company of Strangers, Lifeline and Looking for Jack.
In addition to all of that, he also played several tracks from his new release Are You Looking At Me? All of which sounded amazing live with his full band (including wife Cecilia Noel who provides backup as well as dancing wildly and joyfully around the stage).
There's an old adage that every stand up comic wants to be a rock star and every rock star wants to be a stand up comic. If this is true, Hay is on his way because his banter was hysterical, dry and self deprecating. During one intro he stated:
"I was in a band during the 80's and we had a lot of hits. Well, actually I should clarify that. We had a few. Like 5. Although, 5 isn't too fuckin' bad!"
All in all, it was a tremendous performance. He played about two hours straight and never let up. If you get a chance to check him out live, do yourself a favor and buy some tickets. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
If you're interested in checking out some of Hay's solo work, I highly recommend the following (in the order I bought them):
Man @ Work (has renditions of his Men at Work hits, including the acoustic Overkill, and also some solo stuff)
Going Somewhere
Are You Lookin' At Me?
Company of Strangers
If you'd like to learn more about Colin Hay, check out his website.
Labels: canyon club, colin hay, concert, music
I finally got a chance to sit down and finish strip #21. It continues the "layoff" storyline and even introduces a new character named Hal Pozner. He's the manager of Milo Monkeyshines House O' Fun.
