When I mention to Peter Farnan that Boom Crash Opera is in fact back, he has a little chuckle himself and then admits that it is a welcome return to the stage for the band. “I think that we were away for long enough. When we went into rehearsals and I turned on my VOX AC-30, the dust burnt off the valves. I can only speak in clichés, which obviously doesn’t help for the press, but it’s like riding a bike. It’s like opening up Tutankhamun’s tomb and there’s a party going on inside. We are a lot older and we can control the energy on stage better,” Farnan said in the lead up to the tour and their upcoming Motor City Music Festival performance on the Sunday night.
The tour, which kicked off on the 22nd of February, is an extensive run of shows, which sees them doing a lap of the country and also features some Day on the Green performances with Jimmy Barnes. Although quite a few years have passed since the band last took to the road, Farnan is happy and looking forward to getting back out amongst the scene.
“It’s not like the old days where we were playing six nights a week and having a day off here or there. We head out and play a weekend here or there and fly between cities and gigs. In terms of a logistical sense, although we are playing in some far-flung places, all I have to do is pack an overnight bag and my guitar. There are no loading concert rigs into pubs anymore and the sound quality of the performances is a hell of a lot better than it was in the eighties and nineties.
“This tour is about us celebrating what we have done and the fact that we can still put it on. We sound exactly like we did back in the day – and the live show is just as electric.”
On the back of this tour, the band has just released a greatest hits album The Best Things as well as a four album box set, which evolved from the outtakes of their previous five studio albums. “There was a lot of great material from our old record sessions and the record company didn’t do anything with them, so they have just sat there in a vault. It’s like a new Boom Crash Opera album, out twenty years after the last one. There’s b-sides and a whole heap of different things to keep everybody satisfied. Just for shits and giggles, we recorded some new songs and hey presto! here you have two new tracks to our greatest hits,” Farnan said.
On the back of their infamous sound, Boom Crash Opera is headed to Geelong and are excited about hitting the stage at Motor City. “There are shows on this tour in which we will play the b-sides as well as the classics. Coming to Geelong is about playing to a big crowd in an open space, and we aren’t precious about it. We want people to connect with us and not be misconstrued by what we are doing. Expect the hits and get ready to have a boogie!”
When&Where: Geelong’s Motor City Music Festival, Geelong Showgrounds – March 7-9
Written by Tex Miller