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Last Saturday night I found myself sitting in Adelaide's Festival Theatre awaiting the announcement of the lineup for the 2011 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. When revealed, the announcements were exciting and I was making mental notes of the shows that I might book tickets for. Then Artistic Director David Campbell revealed the headline act to be none other than Olivia Newton John and as soon as the lights came up, I found myself running as fast as I could across the foyer to the box office, dragging my dear friend Rani behind me. All I could think of was that I needed to see Livvy and I needed to get my ticket RIGHT NOW! I saw Olivia perform live in that very same theatre when I was 11 years old. I can remember quite vividly the excitement of hearing and seeing her live, after having spent so long sitting on the floor in my bedroom as a child, singing along to her songs and staring at the album covers for hours on end. I have seen Olivia in concert since then, however the thought of seeing her in that very same theatre 34 years later, made me absolutely giddy with excitement. I threw my credit card at the very charming Nathaniel who ensured that I was in Row A, and I guzzled a glass of champagne and drove Rani insane with my enthusiasm as we waited for him to print out the ticket and hand it over. Success was mine!
I have been a fan pretty much all my life. Firstly of the Young Talent Team...I wanted to be in the audience, I wanted to be in the team (wearing yellow or red two piece fringed outfits with white sandshoes) and I wanted Sally Boyden to be my best friend. Freaky moment # 1. In the late 80's, I ended up working with and becoming close to Tina Arena and that was a rather ironic turn of events. I was mad over homegrown Adelaide boy Mark Holden. My best friend Bernie and I chased him from an outdoor concert in North Adelaide across the road to Channel 9's Adelaide studios one day. I don't know what we would have done if we had caught him but we chased him anyway. We were about 11 or 12. Freaky moment #2. Mark Holden walked into my wedding reception dressed in a white suit, holding a guitar and sang his hit songs "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" and "Gonna Make You My Lady" to me, whilst my little nieces handed out red carnations to our guests so that they could wave them in the air and sing along. This was before Australian Idol hit our TV screens. Mark was 'given' to me as a wedding present and right then and there without knowing it we helped to kick off his comeback! I used to go into a record store in North Adelaide after school and see if I could have the posters off the walls once they had finished with them.. I remember having my name 'reserved' on the back of the album poster for Australian Crawl's current album "Sirocco", and then taking it home and staring longingly at James Reyne and Brad Robinson. These days James is one of my clients, a good friend and I still admire him even though the dynamic has changed.
My ultimate fan moment and the singular event that changed my life was when Australia's premier group Cold Chisel announced that they were breaking up. I was a HUGE fan. I had met Jimmy Barnes once before in Adelaide when I was 16 and I had been shaking like a leaf. A few years later, I had left school and had a part time job in photography and photo processing. I told my boss that Chisel were splitting up and that I had to go. "Go where?", he said. "Go on tour", I replied. Then I went home and told my mum the same thing. Before I knew it, I had arrived in Canberra for the first show of "The Last Stand" tour. My mum had let me go (I have no idea what she told my dad!) and that decision is one that I will never be able to thank her enough for. One of my future bridesmaids Jennifer, decided to come with me and upon arrival in Canberra we found that there were several other fans who had travelled from all over Australia to do the same thing. We waited outside the venue that afternoon to listen in on the soundcheck and suddenly a Chisel crew member came outside and invited us all inside. He asked us where we were from and in amongst the group were two guys from Sydney and a girl from Perth by the name of Deb who has been a close friend to me ever since. We were allowed to sit up the back and watch, then once the soundcheck was over, he came back and handed all of us much sought after Access All Areas passes. He told us that Jimmy had said that we could use the passes and that we were welcomed into the "Chisel family" for the duration of the tour, as most of us were planning to travel to every show. From that day on, I was given an eye opening insight into the inner workings of a rock and roll band on tour. Right then and there, I decided that it was the only thing that I wanted to do. I didn't know what I would do exactly, but I knew that it was the life for me. My experiences on that tour would make a book in itself, but let's just say that I have Jimmy Barnes to thank for giving me THE sign that I needed. Plus I ended up immortalised in film alongside them on "The Last Stand" concert DVD!! My life has never been the same since, it has been incredibly exciting and fulfilling. Freaky moment # 3. A month ago I found myself working as the 'door bitch' at the launch of Jimmy's new single at Adelaide's Largs Pier Hotel. The hotel where Chisel first started out and that Jimmy wrote the song about for his new album. Seriously, could there have been nothing more exciting than that! Funnily enough, I have never told Jimmy that I am one of those fans from "The Last Stand" days....perhaps it's time that I did, I think it would make him smile.
Last night, I was in a position to be able to arrange for my friend Brenda to meet Australian country music superstar Keith Urban. She is a long time dedicated fan and it meant so much to her. It was so exciting to see her happy and nervous about it moments before Keith walked in the door. Being a fan is such an uplifting wonderful thing. The enjoyment and excitement and release of emotions brings such a natural high. Who wouldn't want to be a fan? The artists know how much they are loved by their fans and their careers wouldn't survive without us. We also get just as much out of it as they do. Come Saturday June 11, I will be singing Olivia's 'Xanadu' at the top of my voice and I will live on the happiness and good vibes that it will bring me for a long time. I'm a fan of being a fan.
This blog's accompanying picture is of my first ever meeting with Jimmy Barnes at Adelaide's Thebarton Theatre in 1982. Thanks for the opportunity, the inspiration and the music JB - I am forever a fan.
