Australia has produced some of the world’s biggest music artists and bands over the years. From the rock’n’roll legends out of Sydney AC/DC and INXS to the pop queen herself Kylie Minogue, the land down under has a reputation for great music around the world.
So, when it comes to curating a lineup of legends for the annual APIA Good Times Tour and there are a plethora of artists to choose from across most genres, you can expect to be served up a sizzling lineup of legends for its eighth instalment.
And you can bet your bottom dollar they’ve done just that.
Featuring eight of our all-time favourite Aussie stars, this year’s tour will see performances from Brian Cadd, Deborah Conway, Joe Camilleri, John Paul Young, Kate Ceberano, Leo Sayer, Vika & Linda Bull and, making her Good Times debut, Wendy Matthews. That’s a lineup talent-heavy enough to make any Australian proud!
The group of all-stars will hit the road in May and be heading from Bunbury to Tweed Heads, with stops in Perth, Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne, Bendigo, Launceston, Hobart, Thirroul, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Toowoomba and Brisbane in between in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see some of Australia’s biggest music stars perform their most loved hits and share the stage and songs with one another.
With a lineup that boasts biggest names in the history of Aussie music, it would be wrong of us to not address some of their accolades…
Let’s begin with Perth-born rock veteran Brian Cadd. A singer, songwriter, producer and ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, Cadd has done it all, and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Currently, in his 70’s, Cadd dropped his latest album, Silver City, last year and celebrated it with a slew of gigs. Looking back, Cadd kicked off his career with two of the most celebrated bands of their day, The Groop and Axiom, with hits ‘Woman You’re Breaking Me’ and ‘A Little Ray of Sunshine’, which he soon followed with a string of massive hits as a solo artist. In his time behind-the-scenes in the industry, Cadd went on to produce and work alongside music heavyweights from around the globe.
The 2019 Live Legend recipient, Deborah Conway, has contributed much to the music industry the past 40 years. Having started her career in Melbourne as a vocalist for the The Benders, Conway has played a countless number of live shows from stadiums to lounge rooms; has recorded a lot of songs, some of which have raised eyebrows, some of which have been played on radio; and has been a part of an endless list of projects – from acts like Drawcards, Rose Amongst Thorns and Ultrasound to bringing together the unforgettable Broad Festival, a touring showcase of some of Australia’s finest female musicians. She starred on stage in projects like Dreaming Transportation: Voice Portraits of the First Women of White Settlement at Port Jackson and Always…Patsy Cline, and even served as the Director of the Queensland Music Festival, proving herself as versatile a talent that our country has ever seen. It was the release of her acclaimed debut solo record String Of Pearls in 1991, which saw her take home an ARIA Award in 1992, that catapulted her on a journey that has produced no less than 11 records and ensured her as a mainstay of the Australian touring scene.
Rolling Stone Living Legend Joe Camilleri is Australian music royalty. A name that is as iconic as Ross Wilson, Daryl Braithwaite and John Farnham, Camilleri has given his life to writing, performing and celebrating music. Writer of milestone Australian songs such as ‘So Young’, ‘Hit & Run’, ‘Shape I’m In’, ‘Harley & Rose’, ‘Chained To The Wheel’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’, as well as leader of two of Australia’s most successful bands, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and The Black Sorrows, Joe and his music have become part of Australian music culture. He was inducted along with other members of the Falcons into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007. For Camilleri, it’s all about moving forward and to that end, The Black Sorrows released their 21st album (and Joe’s 49th!), Citizen John, in March last year.
John Paul Young joins these three all-stars, and is undoubtedly one of the most popular Australian artists of the ’70s, with a string of hits, and over four million record sales, cementing him a place in Australia’s music history. A true pop music icon, Young is so well-known in this country that he doesn’t even need to use his name. Say his initials – JPY – and just about everyone can immediately picture the star performing on Countdown, or they can instinctively sing the choruses of ‘Love Is In The Air’, ‘Yesterday’s Hero’ and ‘Standing In The Rain’. In 2009, he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and in 2012, his 40th year in the industry, he was honoured with an Order of Australia for his services to charity and the music industry.
Multi ARIA Award-winning artist, Kate Ceberano, has been in the business for over 35 years – writing and performing both jazz and pop music – with seven Platinum and seven Gold albums to her name so it only makes sense that Ceberano returns to the APIA Good Times tour for the fourth time. From her beginnings in the mid-’80s as a 15-year-old sensation fronting pop-funk band, I’m Talking, she has barely drawn breath since, racking up 27 albums over 35 years to be the most prolific Australian female recording artist of this era. In 2014, Ceberano became the first (and only) Australian woman to be inducted into the Australian Songwriters’ Association (ASA) Hall of Fame and 2016 saw Kate on the Queen’s Birthday Honours’ List, becoming a member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts and charitable organisations. A bona fide national treasure, Ceberano possesses one of the great voices of her generation!
The perpetually effervescent, Grammy-award winning, international chart-topping British music legend Leo Sayer continues to pack houses worldwide to this day. In the more than four decades since he embarked on his illustrious music career, Sayer has written songs for some of the most influential names in the business, including the likes of Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Roger Daltrey, Dolly Parton, Three Dog Night, Gene Pitney and Jennifer Warnes and is revered worldwide for his own songwriting and live performances. Carrying the same energy from his 20’s with him to his live shows where it’s clear the disco era still thunders in his heart and soul, as well as the soles of his feet, APIA Good Times audiences can expect a stunning performance as the man described as ‘one of the greatest pop voices of our time’ selects his favourite songs from more than 20 international Top 10 singles and 5 global Top 10 albums.
For 30 years, the glorious voices of Vika & Linda Bull have comprised one of the most distinctive, versatile and emotionally charged sounds on the Australian music landscape. Since their multi-platinum conquest of pop radio with The Black Sorrows in the late 1980s, the sisters have forged diverse pathways into soul, gospel, rock, country and the island music of their Tongan ancestry. Their rich solo vocals and instinctive harmonies have spawned eight albums of their own, as well as illuminating studio and concert performances by Paul Kelly, RocKwiz, C.W. Stoneking, Deborah Conway, Kasey Chambers and many more. In November last year, Vika & Linda deservingly took their place in the Music Victoria Hall of Fame, joining other Victorian music superstars like Olivia Newton-John, Chrissy Amphlett, Renée Geyer, Paul Kelly, ACDC and John Farnham.
Last but certainly not least, Australian alternative pop singer Wendy Matthews joins the lineup. As an artist, Matthews has an expressive voice that never fails to move those who hear it. Her music is an unhurried journey of clean melodies, infectious energy and simple grace. This is exemplified by the reality that her music is now in more than one million homes in Australia and all her albums to date have multi-platinum status, which is a huge achievement for any artist. Taking songs from every genre and making them her own; from jazz to blues, from rock to gospel, from soul to outright infectious pop and of course, the beautiful ballads, Matthews’ immense talent and capacity to capture and define a diverse range of styles in her music has earned her the ARIA for Best Female Artist in 1990, 1992 and again in 1993. We’ve got our fingers crossed for renditions of ‘The Day You Went Away’, ‘If Only I Could’ and ‘Friday’s Child’.
With these eight artists who have spent decades producing some of the most wonderfully crafted and brilliantly performed songs in the world, there’s a huge array of hits that the setlist will draw from.
You can expect to hear the likes of ‘Ginger Man’, ‘A Little Ray of Sunshine’, ‘Man Overboard’, ‘It’s Only The Beginning’, ‘Harley & Rose’, ‘Chained to the Wheel’, ‘I Hate the Music’, ‘Love Is In The Air’, ‘Bedroom Eyes’, ‘Pash’, ‘You Make Me Feel Like Dancing’, ‘Thunder In My Heart’, ‘Never Let Me Go’, ‘Let’s Kiss’ – just to name a few. This is going to one a rollicking rock-n-roll rollercoaster like no other!
We can already smell the nostalgia.
The APIA Good Times Tour rolls into Geelong’s Costa Hall on Saturday, May 30 and Bendigo’s Ulumbarra Theatre on Wednesday, June 3. Tickets to this unique, once-in-a-lifetime tour are on sale now.
