John Farnham, Auckland NZ, 2019

John Farnham

30th November 2019
Villa Maria Winery, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Alexis Brook. Photography by Chris Zwaagdyk.

On a stunning sunny afternoon, not a lot beats sitting on a picnic blanket and listening to music with friends. And even better if it’s in a winery. Villa Maria blends these two things together with organised ease.

Performing a collection of hits from across several of his albums, John Farnham displayed that he has still got the vocal chops in this concert which was rescheduled from last summer.

Opening the afternoon were Milly Tabak and the Miltones and with extensive festival experience, Milly shines in front of this open field audience. Playing a mix of old hits and a couple of newly recorded tracks, it was a perfect warm up to chill out with.  Check out new track ‘Innocence’ which they’ve recently recorded – hopefully that means another album is on its way soon!

While the stage was being reset, adults refilled glasses and kids slid down the hill on cardboard boxes as the sun beat down.

Opshop was up next and they played a solid set of classic hits from all three studio albums which the crowd lapped up, swayed and sang along to. With comments that Jason Kerrison has aged well like a fine wine, the banter from bassist Clint Harris was endearing and shows that although they’ve “only rehearsed a couple of times in the last ten years”, their connection as friends and musicians stands the test of time. Ending with ‘One Day’ as the sun set and it was time to prepare for the main event – John Farnham, aka Farnzy aka The Farnz.

Another intermission for refilling of glasses from the selection of wines produced by Villa Maria, and the crowd was buzzing.

Farnzy’s Voice was in fine form as he kicked off his set with a cover of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ which led into ‘Hearts on Fire’ as John thanked the crowd for coming and that he was glad he finally made it. Next was title track from the album Age of Reason a naming trend which continues with ‘Chain Reaction’. When we see the album cover for Whispering Jack, the crowd buzz a little more though John replies that “I’m not playing that yet, you’ll just have to wait, else you’ll all piss off and I’ll be left here alone with the crickets and frogs”; when someone from the crowd yells for Farnzy to play Sadie exclamations of “you bastard” and “no” from Farnham are drowned out by the crowd calling “yes!”, and with a “fine, bugger it” we are treated to his first solo single from 1968, ‘Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)’. He mentioned that he sometimes misses the mullet and so do we; that ultimate iconic hair of 80s rock and pop stars.

His touring band are extremely polished, and we are treated to the glorious deep vocal bass tones of long-time band member, kiwi Lindsay Field.  The little pieces of choreography, while quite predictable in their lyrically themed way, are captivating and of course Farnzy can still kick flick his mic stand.

The tail end of the set is a solid run of the cream of the singles; ‘A Touch of Paradise’, ‘Two Strong Hearts’ and ‘Pressure Down’ have couples canoodling, and the audience on their feet hugging and dancing. Just really a merry feel good party.

Finally, the song the audience had been waiting for. As the opening notes of ‘You’re the Voice’ rang out, the crowd was primed for participation. The highlight being a live bagpipe soloist who saluted as they exited stage left.

A chill in the evening thanks to no clouds to keep the days heat in, saw the crowds disperse quickly back to the long wait in traffic as streams of cars queued for the exit back home, however while we waited there were many echoes of patrons still singing ‘You’re the Voice’ at anyone who would listen.

A fabulous afternoon in a stunning venue, highly recommend you all experience a concert at Villa Maria in the future.

Were you there at the Villa Maria Winery for this King of Aussie Pop-Rock? Or have you seen John Farnham perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

We Will Rock You [Queen cover] Heart’s On Fire
Age Of Reason
Chain Reaction
Every Tme You Cry
Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)
Reasons
No One Comes Close
Love To Shine
A Touch Of Paradise [Mondo Rock cover] Talk Of The Town [Shane Howard cover] Two Strong Hearts
Pressure Down
That’s Freedom [Tom Kimmel cover] You’re The Voice
It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N Roll) [AC/DC cover]

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