By Chris Farrell

After finding out during my October sojourn to the UK for the Hollies convention and several concerts (8 in fact) that The Hollies were going to tour NZ in February and were trying to arrange a mini tour on the East coast of Australia, I kept my eyes and ears open to discover if and when this would happen. Thanks to Rob’s web site I discovered that The Hollies would indeed be playing Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast (about an hour south of Brisbane) I decided to try and go to each concert. I managed to do just that and in doing so had an extremely enjoyable week.

The date for the Melbourne show was announced early, so I organised through a Melbourne friend and fan Les Sands, to arrange tickets for the show on Monday February 5. This he did but several tickets had already been sold. Not to worry as the seats turned out to be just left of centre and about 3 rows of tables back from the stage.

Sydney was to be on February 7. It took some time to actually establish where they would be playing in my hometown. Thanks to my friend and Hollies fan, Bob Tengdahl, he found out they would be playing at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club. I phoned the club and talked to the entertainment manager Dennis McNamara and had a lengthy conversation with him about the Eric Haydock Hollies that had toured Australia twice in the last couple of years. During this conversation I asked Dennis when the tickets would be available for the Hollies concert. He said they would be on sale later in that day, once they had set up their computer system for ticket sales. He suggested I call back at lunch time which I made sure I did. I was lucky enough to be the first to buy tickets for that show and so had the front table almost in the centre.

The Gold Coast venue tickets went on sale to club members the day before being made available to non members. Still I managed row 3 seats on an aisle directly in front of Tony’s position on stage. All was now in place to attend each of the Australian shows. I’m glad I did.

NOW FOR THE EVENT 

Flew to Melbourne on Friday evening and spent the weekend with Les Sands and his wonderful family. Les and I had many conversations about the Hollies and Les played me a CD he had recently purchased, The Teenmakers – The Danish Hollies. The CD had many covers of Hollies tracks and except for the accent they sounded like the Hollies. Worth a listen and put out by that famous label Rock’n’Beat. About a 90 minute show again. Visited the local collector record stores and caught up with my Melbourne relatives.

Monday 7^th

Les and I planned to visit some more record stores in the afternoon and then go to the Crown Casino and see the show in the evening. After parking the car at the Casino we decided to have a look around there first and then visit the stores. Checked out the doors to the Showroom hoping to find one open so we could go in and maybe check out the soundcheck if it was happening. Found a side door open and went in and sat down at a table out of the way. Bobby was on stage setting up his equipment. Tony walked on stage and the disappeared. We sat there just taking in what was happening on the stage. Ian Parker came through the same door as us and as he walked past our table I said hello to him. He recognised me from the UK trip and came over and spoke to us for a short while. The same happened with Ray Stiles and Alan Coates. They all recognised me and came to the table and had a short conversation with us.

Carl was the last to come in. He also came over to the table and had a longer conversation with us. Each signed autographs for Les. Carl went up on stage and the band by now was set up as best they could. Some of their equipment hadn’t arrived from New Zealand. 

The band went through their usual process of getting a good sound balance. Did a run through of a couple of songs including The Baby and I think Here I Go Again. After finishing his bit Carl came over again and we had some further conversation. Les was after Bobby and Tony’s so Carl went back to the stage and asked them if they would do the autograph bit when they had finished. Both indicated they would. Bobby came down first and had a brief conversation and signed his autograph. Tony was tuning up his guitars and when he finished the banjo, he called Les up and he did his bit and completed the autographs for Les. We had been there for nearly four hours and as it was now getting close to show time, so we went out and had some food. After that it was back to the show. 

On the way in we caught up with Simon Smith, another Melbourne fan and Hollies magazine “Look What We Got” publisher. We had a brief conversation and arranged to catch up after the show. Show time was now on us. The lights dimmed and the music started. Ian and Ray were first on stage and the music broke into I’m Alive. The rest of the band came on stage and the show was now on big time. Here I Go Again, Jennifer Eccles, Just One Look followed. This show was to be a greatest hits night and for about 90 minutes that’s what we got. Carl did a beautiful job on Soldier Song and his voice was strong. The Baby was again brilliant with Tony and his sitar/guitar. That song always makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Harmonies were really strong and this song suits Carl’s voice. On reflection that song was my favourite performance of the night. More hits followed until Ray came forward and with Alan and Tony did a nice version of the Beatles tune Blackbird. Carl had changed, took centre stage and then into Too Young To Be Married. Great, then on with Blowin’ In The Wind, another powerful Carl vocal. The hits were still coming. Carrie Ann, Stop Stop Stop and The Air That I Breathe. Is the night over? No, they encore with Blackberry Way, a very long Long Cool Woman with band intros and finally closing down with He Ain’t Heavy. Carl talks about Allan Clarke and tells us he left his harmonica back at the hotel. He says that they have a sample of it, so we hear Allan playing the harmonica. The crowd still wanted more. Carl came to the mike and starts singing It’s In every One Of Us from the 5317704 album. One by one Alan, Tony and Ray joined in with Carl and the 4 part harmonies soared. That was it. The band left the stage and the house lights came on.

Caught up with Simon after the show and with Les we waited out the front of the auditorium for the band to come out. Had a brief chat with all of them, mentioning I would catch up with them on Wednesday evening.

We went out and had a coffee and discussed that evening’s performance. We had varying opinions as to the performance. As I had to catch a flight back to Sydney early the next morning Les and I bid farewell to Simon and set off home.

Tuesday 6^th 

Great, get to the airport and discover my flight has been cancelled. I opt for an earlier flight. At the departure lounge I decided to get a fruit juice. Boarding had been called and as I start walking to the queue who should I see but Tony. I say hello and go to my seat. I see the rest of the boys and their crew get on my flight. 

When collecting my baggage Ray comes up next to me and we have a brief conversation about the previous nights show. I collect my bag, see Carl and Alan and go over and have a conversation with them mostly about the previous nights show. Alan asks about the Sydney venue and we talk about that. Tony comes over but didn’t get involved. I bid the guys farewell and say I will see them tomorrow night.

Wednesday 7^th

Arrive at the venue with my friend Chris Pepperell from Red Eye Records (www.redeye.com.au). Meet the friends I will be sitting with and head to our seats. Great spot. Caught up with another Sydney Hollies fan John Campbell and his wife and his group who were at the next table front row.

Lights dim to blue, music starts and off we go. I’m Alive leads off a show of similar content to Monday. They leave out The Baby and Blackberry Way from this show. The order of the songs is changed slightly but again it is a greatest hits performance of about 90 minutes. Tony does a wonderful job on guitar during Too Young To Be Married and his banjo on Stop Stop Stop has the crowd yelling. During Long Cool Woman, Bill (another friend), was rockin’ and dancin’ in front of the stage. Carl caught on to this and played it up. This went over well with the audience.

This night really rocked and seeing the Carl of now and comparing him to back in October, oops how can I compare, there is no comparison. He is now more like a rock performer and less like a cabaret singer. Bobby’s drumming seemed to be more powerful on this night. Ray helped keep the motor cooking along with Ian. Alan’s singing and harmonies were again beautiful. Tony’s guitar playing was great as was his voice. They all seemed to have a very on night.  A great show from all the boys.

Hey guys, I really missed The Baby. That seems to be so strong vocally and with Tony’s sitar/guitar, this is a tremendous listening experience.

After the show a couple of the guys come out into the auditorium and sign autographs. I again have a brief conversation with Alan about the performance and move on. During this conversation it was revealed that Carl had slight case of laryngitis. Looking back through the performance I could now see why I felt Carl’s voice was not quiet right. 

Lots of disappointed fans as many had waited for a long time for autographs. Alas it was not to be. Carl and Tony left after showering and changing.

It was now time to be off home to prepare for my flight to the Gold Coast.

Thursday 8^th  

I catch up with Sydney fan, Bob Tengdahl, at the Brisbane airport where we hire a car and drive down to the Gold Coast. After arranging our accommodation for the evening we decide to check out the venue for this evenings concert.  We find the auditorium and discover we can get in there easily. Once inside we sit down off to the side and watch the sound check. Carl is not there yet but the rest of the guys are going through their paces. Eventually Carl turns up, spots us and comes over. We talk about the previous nights show and Carl informs us he has laryngitis. He goes up on stage with the rest of the gang but it is obvious from proceedings that Carl’s voice is not up to the mark and that the guys will be helping him make it through the night. It also became clear that Tony will be doing the vocals on Too Young To Be Married. I felt that the sound was bouncing off the back wall and this made the sound strange. After sitting in the auditorium for a couple of hours Bob and I go back to the motel and freshen up. We have dinner at the club and during this time I get a call from both Les Sands and Simon Smith wanting to know how the Sydney show went. I informed them I thought it was a really good one. Anyway after dinner we make our way off to the show.

We settle into our seats, the lights dim to blue and off we go. Starting as usual with I’m Alive, Here I Go Again, Jennifer Eccles, Just One Look and Bus Stop. During Bus Stop Ian plays the accordion and sings some backup vocals. It is here that the show changes from the previous nights. Ray, Tony and Alan do Blackbird at this point, then into more hits with Look Through Any Window, I Can’t Let Go, On A Carousel and then Ian does lead vocals on We’re Through as well as playing his accordion. During the extended instrumental break he dons his miners helmet with light and comes out into the audience. We exchange a nod as greetings. Back onto the stage to finish the song while Carl is playing keyboards. Next is Alan’s solo performance of Butterfly that he does with beauty, a truly exquisite vocal performance. Back to the hits with Sorry Suzanne, and then Tony doing lead on his song Too Young To Be Married. Hey Tony, you should do the lead vocal on this one each time you do this tune, it’s your song. Carl does Blowin’ In The Wind with vocal assistance from Tony and Alan. He gets through it OK and then he introduces Tony and his banjo for Stop Stop Stop for another roaring effort from Tony. The crowd was into that and then finally into The Air That I Breathe to wind the show down. Alas, no sign of The Baby tonight either.

It’s not over yet, the encore consists of the usual Long Cool Woman with band introductions. During this an audience member gets up on stage with some albums and ask Carl to arrange to have them signed. He said he would and then finally into He Ain’t Heavy to finish the show. No not yet anyway as Carl leads off with It’s In Every One Of Us. The rest join in to finish the verse and then it is all over. It was another show of about 90 minutes. For me the most noticeable feature of this show was Tony being mixed up a little higher in the vocals and so it was easier to hear his performance. Alan again did a wonderful job with his vocals and most certainly made it easier for Carl to get through the night. I must say that I didn’t notice the bouncing sound during the show.

Bob and I catch up with some Queensland fans and then go back into the auditorium where Carl is mixing with some of the fans. We have a conversation with him and I congratulated him on getting through the evening. The guys did a great job of covering for him. We had our photos taken with him. He enquired of me if I would be going to the UK this year, but it doesn’t look like I will. He gave us both a hug and we bid farewell.  

Afterwards Bob and I were having a quiet drink in the club when we spotted a couple of the clubs sound people. We had an interesting conversation with them about the state of the sound in the room, The Hollies and other people and groups that have performed there. After about an hour with those two guys we called it a night and went back to the motel.

Next morning it was back to the airport and the end of an exciting week for me. My favourite show would have to be the Sydney one. The Melbourne show had equipment problems as well as a smaller crowd and for the Gold Coast show, Carl had his voice problems. I found all the guys to be friendly but Carl was exceptional and extremely easy to get along with. This man is extremely funny and some of his antics during sound checks had to be seen to be believed. He adds a lot a humour to the group during the in show performance and the banter between him and Tony was great.

Thanks guys for a great week.

Chris Farrell

Sydney, Australia.