After completing a North American tour, Spandau Ballet are now in Australia and having great time.
While a lot of bands cut down the production of their Australian shows to cut costs Spandau Ballet have brought their full production down under. “The crowds have been amazing,” Martin Kemp tells Noise11.com.” We’ve just done Brisbane and Sydney. Absolutely amazing crowds. We’ve not scrimped on anything here. You are getting the full show”.
The Spandau Ballet setlist also manages to not only include all of the hits but some deep album cuts. “It is so much fun,” says Gary Kemp. “Not just fun playing the songs but looking around and seeing your mates on stage with you. It flies by. It might feel daunted when you see the setlist but that’s the joy. There is not a song in there that we don’t like playing. We visit quite a few different areas of the band. We do a section about the blitz club which is really fun to do”.
Martin says the show is all about the audience. “That is exactly what the show is about,” he says. “We know its about the audience and we are doing it for them. That’s what makes it the most incredible thing. You look out and you see 10000 people who are extremely happy. It is an amazing thing to do. When you look into the front rows and you can see people wanting to get out of their seats, that’s what its like in Australia”.
“You are always flattered when people want to come,” Gary says. “They are coming because its about them, It is not about us. It is about coming to see a band that was deeply part of their lives and there is more left in the tank”.
Gary Kemp is the songwriter in Spandau Ballet. He agrees another album could still be in them but he hasn’t written any songs for one yet. “I don’t think songs are a problem. It is finding the time to get five blokes together in the same room. That is the harder thing. That’s why it took five years between the last one and this one. Everyone has their own lives. They do things”.
Martin says the album format is not what is once was. “We need to find other ways of working. We did a film, not an album. Lets face it, the album is not what it was in the 70s and 80s. It stopped being the same when the CD was invented. People have always tried to find different ways of presenting that album. Foo Fighters has a TV series. I think there are other ways of approaching new product to get you out on the road again”.
Meantime there could be a live album and/or DVD. “We are talking about it. I’d like to do a live record. We are playing some great venues in Italy. We are playing the Roman Amphitheatre in a few months time. It will be quite nice to do to there”.
Spandau Ballet are touring Australia for Paul Dainty.
Spandau Ballet remaining dates
May 19, Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
May 22, Perth, Perth Arena
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