Colin Hay Live at the Plaza, Orlando

That's right, the voice of Men At Work, on a solo tour in pre-support, I guess, of his upcoming album, "Gathering Mercury", due out next week.  Since the breakup of M@W some twenty-five years ago, Hay has been doing solo records every two or three years, touring to support each one since he lives domestically in the Los Angeles area.  I have the very first two, "Looking for Jack" from 1987 and "Wayfaring Sons" from 1990, and I was hoping to hear the title tracks from both, but only the latter fit the solo setup.  If you were a fan of the full catalog of Men At Work and not just the radio hits, you would enjoy "...Jack".  "...Sons" started more of the singer/songwriter bent of his career, which isn't a bad thing.  That voice is unmistakable, and the songs are imminently hummable.  There was an album called "Transcendental Highway" in 1998 that was good and one from 2007 called "Are You Lookin' At Me?" for which I almost went to his stop here in Orlando, but alas, I passed.  He was getting more notice since his inclusion on episodes of Scrubs and Zach Braff's "Garden State" soundtrack, which won a Grammy in 2005.  Then I see him announced on the Plaza's Upcoming Shows tab, and I make mention of it to Rob at WPRK, and then promptly forget about it.  After the Grace Potter show, he mentions he had put me on the guest list for this one.  Surprised, and pleased, I was able to attend (I owe him a bottle of something, which I may just have to deliver to his Morning Marinade show on WPRK).

My neighbor, Frank, and I arrive just in time for a beverage before taking our gratis seats in the next to last row.-------------------- Nope, that's not a dig, because the show was in the small room, housing about three hundred people.  Hay wanders out and immediately jokes that he went to the main room only to find it empty, which prompted a story from years ago when he actually started a show with four people in the venue, including himself!  Then another funny recollection, and another, and then he says he's fifteen minutes into the gig and not played a song yet!  The audience was laughing so much it felt like we were in Bonkerz or the Improv.  So he starts the first tune and it's "Down Under."  I say to Frank, "Never in a million years would I've guessed that to be the opener."  At its end he says there was method to that madness and would relate it to us later.  Several solo selections and humorous interludes later, we get to another classic M@W tune.  Hopefully, you will be able to understand him enough to grasp a bit of the humor of the evening.  Another song later, he tells why he started with arguably his biggest hit earlier.  As the years have passed, he noticed many in the audience leave after playing "Down Under", more reasonably placed in the set list, generally around the timing of the linked video.  So in a nod to his aging demographic, he started opening his shows with it, knowing that soon thereafter, many would quietly slip out, completely satisfied with their paid experience after hearing the one song that brought them there, and be home in bed before the concert had ended.  I'm sorry, folks, but that's funny as hell...  And it's a long show for a solo performance, this one clocking in at approximately 130 minutes.  I was going to say I didn't check my watch once, but I did, but only in order to see just how long he was actually playing.  I was truly amazed at his ability to seize the stage and hold an audience as raptly as he did as a solo performer for that length of time. 

For the three hundred humans in attendance, at $28 per, I'll wager not one was dissatisfied with their investment.