Live Review – Tony Hadley (Ex Spandau Ballet)
40th Anniversary Australian Tour at the Astor Theatre Perth, 22nd September 2022.
By Sheldon Ang
Photos by Sheldon Ang Photography
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I know this much is true.
With mic in hand, he thumps low through the air with the conviction of a prized fighter, before recoiling his torso backwards as sweat gushes from his face. He turns his back to the audience and stares at the drummer, teasing in both directions by wiggling his frame like Frank Stallone live in the Solid Gold Countdown of ’83. With the beat from the percussionist reaching climax, he swings one-eighty and executes a left hook on the punch line of the chorus. The photographer on front row in a KISS T shirt salutes with a rockstar gesture. The singer smiles and returns favour. He then ponders in an imperious sense of wonderment – After forty years, I still got the power, I’m indestructible.
Tony Hadley – the former frontman of the 80’s synthpop supergroup Spandau Ballet, took fans into an era when music and dance were carved from the state of the heart…when Marilynn McCoo was fashionable with those quarterback shoulder pads. For two hours, the romantics were pinned to every word curated by Tony Hadley, from the autographical reflection prior to Spandau Ballet to the present day at sixty-two years young, as the 80’s children relived through the nostalgic downpour from the roof of the historic Astor Theatre.
Hadley graced the stage with Instinction from the 1982 album Diamond, followed by Highly Strung and Oh Carol.
I auditioned for the lead singer of a boy band…and I got it…Our first tour in Australia was in 1985. Five young lads coming here was a dream come true…and I always think, despite of what’s going on, without those guys, I wouldn’t be here now…and I always thank them.
The audience had come for the legacy of Spandau Ballet, and Hadley’s setlist shone through. Round and Round from the 1984 album Parade was one of those anthemic tracks. Despite the faultless production, the studio version felt like a ballad trapped in a TDK cassette compared to the live propagation, as Hadley thematically embraced the lyrics that moans frustration, yearning, desperation and obsession.
We should live in peace together, regardless of race, religion, background…
Through the Barricades was inspired by the killing of Thomas Reilly in 1983, a friend of the band who was shot by a soldier in Belfast. The performance exposed the singer’s vulnerability, interpreting the words into lyrical perfection, oozing the visceral outpour in its melancholy. It also gave the fans a time to reflect on the golden era, diving into the realm of nostalgia and poignancy, trickled from the heartfelt performance. Accordingly this track remains as Hadley’s favourite song of Spandau Ballet.
The singer’s appearance fluctuated through various poses and under certain lighting conditions. For most of the night, there was something Alec Baldwin about the man from Islington, London – a charming debonair commanding the attention by the virtue of his stage presence. There were times when Hadley oozed the persona of a retired James Bond.
There are a lot of guys here who were dragged here tonight by your girlfriends or wives…and you’d be thinking, ‘I’d rather be in a pub with my mates’. Trust me, when you get home tonight…especially after this song, it’ll be OK….this is my gift…to you.
As the journey drew to a close, it seems that everyone was waiting for the two moments that defined the sounds of the early 80’s. It is one of the very few songs where the intro of the instruments draws as much excitement as the chorus or punch line. True was a worldwide hit. Like most songs in their catalogue, the song was written by the group leader Gary Kemp in 1983 for the album of the same name, charting at number one in the UK, subsequently becoming their seminal piece that engraved Spandau Ballet into music royalty. Over in Australia, it peaked at number four. The performance glided for under seven minutes of mellifluous smothering vocals, punctuated by the self-appointed backup singers that came for the ride on the chorus.
After nineteen songs such as Obvious, Soul Boy, and Lost In Your Love, the night closed with Gold, also taken from their third album True. The Astor converted to a dancefloor, encouraged by the animated Hadley who gainly punched into the air as he sternly drove the word Gold.
At 62 years young, Hadley’s vocal range transcends the realms of highs and lows, expandable and malleable to align with the eclectic styles of the Spandau Ballet’s discography. It was as if his chords has encased in a time capsule, only to climax for the first time in over four decades. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he had sung ‘Nessun Dorma’ to showcase his repertoire.
For this writer/photographer who had taken this journey in March 2020 – also at the Astor Theatre, it was a second homecoming. Some fans might have been familiar with a handful of tracks prior to the night’s journey. But Hadley’s explosive performance have sparked a new wave of discoveries and revived obsessions, leaving the after taste that lingers long after the performance, subsequently blooming a new generation of time travellers in search of the tragic world of the New Romantics…the sound of the golden era.
And I know this much is true.
SAM would like to thank Estellar Publicity, Destroy Alllines and Tony Hadley for the Press Accreditation and ticket!
About the Writer: Sheldon Ang is the founder, photographer and writer of SAM. Since its launch in May 2022, he has photographed and reviewed all of the arena and stadium concerts in Perth, including KISS, Hilltop Hoods, The Script, The Kid Laroi, Gang of Youths, Louis Tomlinson (One Direction), Guy Sebastian, Glass Animals and Amy Shark. He has also interviewed over 50 artists for a magazine that has been removed by the owner.
