Dateline – ROYAL OAK, MI
Colin Hay
Royal Oak Music Theater
24 March 2024
It was the ’80s, man! Honestly, if you’d have told me in the early part of that decade, when I was cruising around my dead-end hometown in my buddy’s X-body Chevy Citation listening to Men at Work being played incessantly on FM radio, that in 2024 I’d be listening to the geezer who wrote that shit prattling on and on with charming anecdotes, humming and strumming those tunes by himself on stage in a 1700-seat theater packed to the nut with adoring fans singing along to every one, I’d have probably requested a lethal dose of morphine, stat. But damned if that’s not where I found myself. And I didn’t want to be anywhere else on this night.
Not so long ago – back in 2004 – a good friend of mine and I took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Nashville from Detroit in late February. When we got there, it was actually snowing and really damn cold. We were trying to find some classic Nashville joints, like the Bluebird, when we ducked into this shitty sports bar to warm up and grab a beer. We could hear some guy playing Men at Work songs, and I was like, “Seriously?” But the guy was really good, and when we worked our way round where we could see what passed for a stage, who could it be then? It was Colin Hay. No shit!
Still not sure what an ace bloke like Colin was doing in a pub like that. But he was in great voice that night in Nashville, and he still sounded great on this night at the venerable Royal Oak Music Theater, just north of Detroit, 20 years later. And make no mistake, my man is much more than the fan-favorite Men at Work stuff. He’s had regular releases since the Men quit work back in ’85, and his songwriting remains solid and compelling.
This “An evening with” show featured Colin on acoustic guitar, accompanying his exquisitely-aged and lightly-seasoned voice. His songs have a conversational poetry to them, lyrically casual in their description of the prosaic, and well-suited to this setting. 2011’s Gathering Mercury is a personal favorite of mine, written in the wake of his father’s passing. He closed his eyes and shared a contemplative rendition of that album’s title track.
He broke out a couple of covers that appeared on his 2021 collection I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself, on which Colin recorded versions of his favorite songs. The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset” was inspired, and I particularly dug his take on “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself,” composed by Burt Bacharach and popularized by Dusty Springfield on her 1964 single.
One of the best things about Colin’s solo shows is his rapport with the audience. I’ve elevated him to the status of Robyn Hitchcock and Tom Waits in terms of the lost art of engaging a crowd. I’d pay to listen to his stories for an hour and a half, even if he never performed a note. His anecdote about an encounter with a superfan is emblematic of the way that he opens his world to people and invites them in.
Not to worry, he still appears to enjoy performing the big singles from Men at Work that everyone knows and loves. He plays the hits in simple arrangements and, while he’s not a monster guitar player, he does more than enough to suggest the hooky instrumental bits and keep it interesting. He has great rhythmic feel. He sings in a syncopated cadence, just behind the beat, so you can hear the audience singing all the words.
Ever since that night in Nashville in aught-4, I’ve wanted to catch a proper solo set from Colin. This show met and exceeded my expectations, and his yarn-spinning charmed me out of my seat. I’m glad I enjoyed his work with the Men, even in the heavy-rotation days, and he’s still creating at a high level at the age of 70. His voice is now a pop-culture treasure, and his easy stage demeanor is a delight. Perhaps that lethal dose I mentioned was overkill; I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this opportunity. Thanks, mate.
Colin Hay setlist – 24 March 2024, Royal Oak Music Theater
Keep your eye on Colin on his website, colinhay.com
