Colin Hay!

I'm too tired to make this post a well-written one, so I'm just gonna wing it.

Colin Hay came to Montgomery!

I've been very interested in his music since hearing it on the Garden State soundtrack and on Scrubs; I later found out that he was the lead singer for the 80s band Men at Work.  My parents and I snatched up tickets a few weeks ago when we heard he'd be coming to Montgomery (about 20 minutes away from my parents' house), and man--what a fabulous show.

First of all, the man's hilarious.  The first 10 minutes of his show was simply him talking to the audience, guitarless; it might as well have been a stand-up routine.  He continued to make jokes throughout the night, and was just entertaining in general.

I pretty much heard everything I hoped to hear (and more, actually).  He opened with "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You," which currently ties with "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" (played next-to-last) for my personal favorite song by him.  Other goodies included "Beautiful World" and a multitude of his other solo songs (played with his current band), and of course some classic Men at Work.  What I was surprised (AND DELIGHTED) to hear was "Who Can It Be Now"--I had no idea that song was by Men at Work, and oddly enough I've been singing it for the past two weeks.  After the concert I realized it was pretty much the most appropriate ringtone EVER, and now whenever anyone calls me I get to hear Colin Hay wondering right along with me... who can it be now?

All in all, a fantastic show; I have only one complaint.  THE BACK-UP SINGER/DANCER.  Who turns out to be Hay's wife:
Yeah, that's pretty much the part of her I saw most of through the night.  She appears to be a virtuoso at both tambourine and a style of dance I can only describe as "flail-tastic."  She spazzed out, flung her arms, waved a tambourine like there was no tomorrow, shook her ass, shook her boobs, bounded across stage... and generally served as not much more than a distraction.  She did do some back-up vocals, which was nice... but sometimes she was just doubling whatever the lead guitar was playing (which sounded silly), and her unending flute imitation (complete with ridiculous and inaccurate air fluting hand gestures) on "Down Under" lost something after the first 10 seconds of it.  I wouldn't have minded any of this had it not been so distracting from Colin and the rest of the band.

Still, I'm so glad I went.  6th row center and a relatively uncrowded venue = a good thing.  If he happens to be coming to your area and you get a chance to go, I definitely recommend it.