Project Description
RUSSELL MORRIS
@ The Manhattan Hotel
23/12/18
LIVE MUSIC REVIEW
Reviewer: Alyssa Borda
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The Manhattan Hotel show started off with an impressive support act, with the very young and talented Jackson James Lee. He performed with a keyboard only and reminded me of nonchalant Patti Smith with long hair. Jackson James had a street cred style wearing a Nirvana – shirt with laid back denim and runners. Real international sound with a funky groove. Strong passionate vocals and songwriting to match too. Some great songs performed such as a cover by Tori Amos named Cornflake. Also original songs entitled ‘Down By The Creek’ with deep and passionate vocals, ‘The River’ a solemn song and ‘Rusting Away’, where Jackson James mentioned it was written when he was in a dark place. The last song was very impressive called ‘Let Them Come’ with HI NRG on the keys. The song with the wow factor with Jerry Lee Lewis vibes!
Next it was officially showtime with Australian ARIA award winning rock legend, Russell Morris. Russell and the band were amazing from the 5:30pm start to the encore finish on the traditional square stage set up. He is without a doubt Australian rock royalty and still remains a polished performer both vocally and on guitar. He walked on stage cool, calm and relaxed after the road crew had set up. Joining him were equally talented band members such as the flawless guitarist Peter Robinson, talented bass player, Mitch and rocking drummer Jon Hamilton. Joe Petrolo also did a great job on the sound for the afternoon show.
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The first opening song was the powerful song ‘The Drifter’ by Franz/Klaus. Blues sound with polished vocals. Walk my blues was the second song performed off the ARIA award winning Blues and roots ‘Sharkmouth’ album from 2012. Sharkmouth was the highest selling album of 2013 and also the highest selling album of his career. This track was a great rock ‘n’ roll number which saw Russell truly rock his Black Maton guitar. Roar of the wild torpedoes was a cool rock song from Russell Morris’s fifth studio album, Almost Frantic. This album was released in 1981 under the Mushroom records label. Loved the guitar solo on this performance. Birdsville song had the Wow factor! Love this country/blues number with incredible vocals and songwriting. From the Van Dieman’s land album. Great vibes perfect for the dancefloor yet no one was dancing to this one! I go round from the album Red Dirt – Red Heart was released in 2015. Love this blues song! Ripper solo and guitar slides from Pete Robinson. ‘It’s all over now, Baby Blue’ rocking track from the Fundamentalist album released in 2007, was an absolute crowd favourite. Next was ‘Something In The Air’ recorded by American singer-songwriter Tom Petty , which was amazing! Great sound. Song 9 for the afternoon was ‘The Ballad of Les Darcy’ love this Blues rock song. Super cool track about the amazing middleweight Australian Boxer. Russell Morris is a passionate boxing fan and it certainly shines through with exceptional songwriting. One of my favorite tracks from the Sharkmouth album. Up next the classic The Real Thing Part 3 Into Paper Walls. Great to sing a long to. Psychedelic vibes from 1969. Love the drumming on this one. One of the fans in the audience next to me proclaimed that Russell has still got it! So great to hear! ‘Money Don’t Grow On Trees’ followed which was a great country blues track also from album Sharkmouth . Plenty of fans grooving away to this song written by Russell Morris. ‘Black Dog Blues’ was an absolute highlight for me. Russell announced solemnly that this song was written with fellow band member from Cotton, Keays and Morris, Jim Keays, who saw this become a hit before his passing in 2014. Everyone loved this song at the Manhattan Hotel. Had the wow factor for me with ripper guitar slides from Peter Robinson. Songwriting brilliance from the platinum album Sharkmouth.
‘The Real Thing’ which is classic 1969 Russell Morris written by Johnny Young and produced by Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum, is amazing to experience live. This song is epic and reached number one on the charts for good reason. Psychedelic rock perfection. This song became an Australian rock classic and even achieved success in the U.S. There was a great guitar solo from Russell too. Totally rocking it. Ladies headbanging in the audience and Kids on the dancefloor too. Phones held upright to capture the Australian Rock legend on stage grooving out to one amazingly long track. ‘Hush’ was another cool song. Crowd favourite once again. Amazing vocals. Guitar licks and slides on the Gibson guitar by Peter Robinson were fabulous. ‘Sweet Sweet Love’, classic pop rock tune released in June 1971 from the album Bloodstone under record label His Masters Voice/EMI Music was performed next. The track that the ladies in the crowd loved. Great song and vocals. Russell Morris has an amazing vocal range as evidenced on this classic. Beautiful songwriting here! The dance floor was packed. It was easy to see why this song was Russell Morris’ fourth top ten single. The band then surprised and even improvised with Christmas carols on their respective instruments which was quite creative! The drummer did ‘Oh come oh ye faithful’ on the Pearl drum kit! Amazing! After the band walked off the stage in true rock ‘n’ roll style, the crowd began to chant for more! The encore performance saw Russell and the band came back on stage to perform the 1970 classic ‘Rachel’ much to the crowds delight and spoke about a new direction for next year. Followed by finishing the show with the classic 1963 Beatles tune, ‘Please Please Me’. The crowd absolutely loved this number! If you have not seen the Australian rock legend, Russell Morris, live before be sure to get to one of his shows soon!
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