You should have seen the audience three songs in. They were on their feet and charging to the front. Hall & Oates were in the house and this crowd could not wait to see them.
Hall & Oates - Photo by Ros O'Gorman
Icehouse are a hard act to follow on Australian soil but Hall & Oates rose to the challenge and matched Icehouse hit for hit.
This was Hall & Oates first Australian tour since 1991. If abstinence makes the heart grow fonder, then this crowd was bursting for a H&O show.
For starters the band was incredible. A good smattering of Average White Band members, a former Madonna guitarist and a Bowie percussionist created the Hall & Oates sounds we have been listening to for 40 years.
The band was:
Daryl Hall – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards
John Oates – Guitar, vocals
Paul Pesco – Lead Guitar, backing vocals (Madonna)
Klyde Jones – Bass, backing vocals (Average White Band)
Brian Dunne – Drums (Average White Band)
Charlie DeChant – Saxophone, keyboards, backing vocals (Average White Band)
Eliot Lewis – keyboards, backing vocals (Average White Band)
Everett Bradley – percussion, backing vocals (David Bowie)
It was an all-hit setlist with the exception of ‘Las Vegas Turnaround’ from the early ‘Abandoned Luncheonette’ album of ’73. It is a favourite of John Oates and an album he draws on in both his H&O shows and his solo shows.
‘I Can Go For That (No Can Do)’ was the stand-out piece tonight. Hall & Oates have reinvented the 30-year old classic into an extended piece of pure soul. Tonight it was their Marvin Gaye ‘Got To Give It Up’ moment.
Daryl Hall commands most of the spotlight as lead singer of the duo but John stepped up for ‘How Does It Feel To Be Back’, his Beatlesque hit from 1980’s Voices album.
The Hall & Oates setlist from The Plenary Hall, Melbourne, February 2, 2012 was:
Maneater (from H2O, 1982)
Family Man (from H2O, 1982)
Out Of Touch (from Big Bam Boom, 1984)
Adult Education (from Rock and Soul Part1, 1983)
How Does It Feel To Be Back (from Voices, 1980)
Say It Isn’t So (from Rock and Soul Part1, 1983)
Las Vegas Turnaround (from Abandoned Luncheonette, 1973)
She’s Gone (from Abandoned Luncheonette, 1973)
Sara Smile (from Daryl Hall & John Oates, 1975)
I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) (from Private Eyes, 1981)
Rich Girl (from Bigger Than Both Of Us, 1976)
You Make My Dreams (from Voices, 1980)
Kiss On My List (from Voices, 1980)
Private Eyes (from Private Eyes, 1981)
