Darren Hayes : Do You Remember Tour (Review)

Last night I got to live the dream!

I waited a long time to attend this concert and as I headed into the Brisbane Entertainment Centre to find my seat, I could hardly believe the night had arrived.

My seat was behind the mixing desk, raised above and the very first row, so I had a clear view of the stage. There’d be no tall audience member I’d have to peer around, although occasionally the mixer’s head would show at the bottom of my video screen. All in all though, I was ecstatic with my seat selection. What more could I wish for?

Darren definitely saved the best concert for last.

Our homegrown boy from Logan, a suburb here in Brisbane, had come home, to woo and wow us as he’s never done before and the crowd went wild.

For those of you not familiar with Darren Hayes, here is a little background on his rise to fame.

Darren Hayes was born in 1972 and raised in a suburb called Logan, here in Brisbane. Logan has a shocking reputation of raising our local delinquents with gang violence and out of control kids but Darren rose above it all and made something of himself. There was no stopping him, not with that voice, his songwriting talents and his charisma. We knew he was going to go far.

He joined up with Daniel Jones to form the duo Savage Garden and their 1997 self titled album was a phenomenal success. Reaching number one in Australia, number two in the UK and number three in the US, it could be heard from the speakers of nearly every Australian household.

Mine happened to be one of those. I’d turn up the radio and dance my heart out every time I heard one of their songs, until one lucky birthday when my two boys gave me my very own copy of their album. Then it was played on constant repeat; in the house, in the car, in the bathroom as I showered.

Unlike most albums released by musicians today, Savage Garden’s 1997 album held hit after hit and in fact, every song from this album was brilliant and the masses adored them all.

Singles in which every Australian knew every single word, such as the following :

I Want You

And of course my personal favourite and one that played as I walked down onto the beach to marry the love of my life, twenty years ago :

Truly, Madly, Deeply

Then their album Affirmation hit the stores in 1999 and more singles jumped onto the charts.

This album proved popular with I Knew I Loved You hitting number one in the US and The Animal Song climbing to number three in Australia.

Affirmation

I Knew I Loved You

The Animal Song

Unfortunately it was a sad day in 2001 when we heard that Savage Garden split and many Australian hearts broke at the news.

But then Darren branched out into his solo career with his first solo album Spin. This album topped at number two in the UK and number three in Australia, showing he is as successful as a solo artist.

Insatiable

And since then he has never looked back, which brings us to his epic concert, performed to an ecstatic crowd, at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre last night.

Our boy is home!

Darren was the ultimate entertainer and worked the crowd like the professional he has become.

He was genuine and real as he told us his story of the split with his wife Colby, who he loved dearly and the pain of being true to his own Soul, which made him face his sexuality, even when he didn’t wish to follow this path. His Soul made him be who he was always born to be and his story hit the hearts of the entire audience.

As Darren explained his path travelled, his emotions were raw, vulnerable, honest and genuine and I for one felt honoured that he took us into his confidence and confessed to the decisions he made, along with the guilt he carried from the separation with his wife, Colby Taylor.

Every song performed on that stage was from the heart of an amazingly talented musician.

A musician that is as human as you and I, as we found out when he began performing his most iconic hit, Truly, Madly, Deeply. Within the first two lines of the song, he stopped the performance and owned up to messing it up………laughing at himself for messing up the biggest song he has ever been associated with and to his horror it had to happen in his hometown.

The crowd laughed with him — not at him and he restarted the performance, nailing it the second time round.

The entire night was brilliant, emotional, awe inspiring and a night to truly remember.

Thank you Darren for gifting us with your music, your talent and your awesome performance. The crowd ate it up and lived every single glorious minute!

Further examples of Darren’s talent in both his performance and songwriting abilities are shown in these videos below. All taken during the performance last night.

Enjoy!

Homosapian / Chained to You

Two Beds and a Coffee Machine

Casey

Another Brisbane based band opened as the support act for Darren and they were phenomenal in their own right.

Let me introduce you to Batchelor Girl with these two videos of their fantastic performance last night.

Treat Me Good

Buses and Trains

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Originally published on Medium