a-ha Hunting High & Low as Rick rolls the Hunter

2 March 2020

Music lovers of all ages stepped back in time to the 1980s when chart favourites A-Ha, Rick Astley and Psuedo Echo rocked the A Day on the Green stage at Bimbadgen Estate on Saturday

It’s always a great gig at Bimbadgen, with crowds enjoying an opportunity to see their musical icons doing their thing. But the atmosphere at the 48th A Day on the Green was especially heady with nostalgia and fun.

While the crowd were here for a walk down memory lane, they were happy to embrace new music, delivered by Sydney-sides I Know Leopard. With their sweet synthy sounds, which are heavily influenced by 80s new wave and glam, I Know Leopard were an excellent choice for concert openers. They built the crowds enthusiasm with opener Heather delivered a solid set before closing with the anthemic and catchy Love is a Landmine.

DJ Master Bates always brings the party between sets, and his appearance at this A Day On The Green did not disappoint. Bates worked the stage, getting the swelling crowd up and dancing and gave a very warm welcome to Aussie new wave icons Psuedo Echo.

Resplendent in a gold, leather suit and animal print shirt, Psuedo Echo frontman Brian Canham led his band in delivering a stand-out performance. Opening with Travelling at the Speed of Sound, before taking the crowd back to 1984 and 1985, smashing out their hits Don’t Go, The Adventure and Listening. Reeved up, the crowd broke the rules, and danced in the aisles to a funky cover of Nutbush City Limits – Just like they did at the Blue Light Disco of the day. Finishing up the set with the radio favourite Funky Town, mixed in with some Black Night by Deep Purple for the fun of it, was a highlight of the electric set.

This reviewer is unashamedly a child of the 80s, and I’m proud to admit that when I was in Year 5 my heart belonged to Rick Astley. Now three decades later, seeing this incredible performer own the Bimbadgen stage, only reinforced my love for my childhood favourite, who proved he still has the chops, and charm, proving he is more than a meme or a has been.

Opening with the hit single Together Forever from his smash 1987 release Whenever You Need Somebody, Astley charmed the crowd with his swagger, talent and sense of fun. Astley’s set spanned his career from pop idol to internet phenomena and included She Wants to Dance With Me, international chart-topper Whenever You Need Somebody, to more modern numbers Keep Singing and God Says before a sing-along with the giddy, and shimmying audience, to Never Gonna Give You Up. My inner 11-year-old was left feeling as blessed as the day my Dad bought me my first Rick Astley cassette.

Looking around the crowd during the daylight hours, it was easy to spot the hoards of punters wearing a-ha tour shirts, or posing for photos with their mint condition LP of the Norwegian groups’ debut Hunting High and Low. The fans were ecstatic that their band had finally made it back Down Under, having last toured here in 1986.

One such committed fan was Mark Wilson from Sydney. He was up dancing for every artist, proudly wearing his tour shirt. I tracked him down to learn he had taken time off work to follow a-ha around the nation at outdoor and arena gigs. He predicted A-Ha would play their debut in full – he was right.

Reviewer Leonie Bran (left) & Mark Wilson (right) from Sydney who has taken time off work to follow a-ha around Australia

Accompanied by a dramatic light show, a-ha opened with their iconic pop anthem Take on Me – every person in the pumped crowd trying to sing the high notes as well as frontman Morten Harket.

It was wonderful to see so many of the crowd, some whose youth was more recent than others, elated through the experience of music and performance. Closing with their take on the Bond movie franchise theme, The Living Daylights, I too became a fan of the talented and engaging a-ha, who, through the noise and participation of the crowd, would have been left with little doubt that they shouldn’t leave it so long before their head back to The Hunter.