Johnny’s far from rotten

LIKE a fine wine, John Farnham seems to get better with age.
He rocked The Palais theatre on Wednesday night, hopefully not for the last time.
Forget the jokes about the great man they call The Voice playing yet another final gig – his fans young and old (mostly old) didn’t seem to care.
Grannies and teens were bopping in their seats, some even in the aisles to some songs that could be referred to as Aussie anthems.
He was the opening act, the main act and the comedian for the night, and the audience lapped it all up.
Farnzy started off with an acoustic rendition of some of his older songs, those from his Little River Band days, while he name-dropped some famous songwriters in the process.
His stripped down, acoustic opening set showed a different side to the performer and proved that he’s still got it, hitting every note with ease and not forgetting too many of the words (thanks to his autocue).
A 20-minute interval saw the stage completely changed, with a more rock feel.
The wait may have been too long for one particularly enthusiastic fan, who may have dabbled in one too many spirits, who was told off when she stood up in the middle of the audience and danced (ahem, threw her arms in the air) to crowd favourite Pressure Down.
The father of the Australian music scene, who playfully referred to himself as “Uncle Johnny”, showed off in the second half of the show when he sang Whispering Jack cover to cover.
The lack of Farnzy paraphernalia worn by his fans was disappointing to say the least, with your reviewers only two of four people obviously proud to wear Farnzy on their sleeves.
Those without T-shirts held Johnny in their hearts, while others lined up to hold his hand – seriously it wouldn’t be a surprise if everyone had an opportunity to shake the great man’s hand.
It didn’t matter where or when, even in the middle of a hit, they just wanted to touch him.
Far from the conventional run of a concert, the best bit was right in the middle – with the crowd giving a standing ovation for his rendition of You’re the Voice (track two of his Whispering Jack album). So good in fact, he played it again at the end.
Forget the tall poppy syndrome, John Farnham is one of the most talented performers in the country and hopefully it wasn’t the last chance his fans had to see him live.
There’s still something left in the old fella yet. – Melissa Meehan and Danielle Galvin