G'day Cobbers!

Another Busman’s holiday!…. but I do like to drive a ‘Bus’!

The Sweet in Adelaide!…… at the Gov, in it’s 30th anniversary year, and it must be The Sweet’s, what, their 55th or so anniversary!

The Gov is a great venue in Adelaide, with an 800 person capacity, and it has hosted a fine selection of acts (Aus/NZ and US/Canada, UK/Europe) over the years….. Glenn Hughes played here just recently too. It sits right opposite the Adelaide Entertainment Centre (AEC), another great location for touring acts of all kinds, music, comedy et al.

The Sweet are playing two nights in Adelaide, bringing their unique Pop/Rock Party to town, this being the first night, and it’s sold out and packed!…. great to see.

Andy Scott had to pull out from travelling ‘down under’ due to an illness, but The Sweet were determined to do the Australian ’24 Tour down here, so they agreed to find a ‘Dep’, at very short notice (10 days in total), in the shape of Randall Waller, who has played guitar with and for Elton John, Keith Urban and Shania Twain to name just a few!

So it’s technically a Sweet tribute show/band, but it has the feel of authenticity still.

Paul Manzi (singer) explained the problem with Andy Scott’s travelling, but assured the crowd that Andy will be back to Australia for sure! We all wished Andy a speedy recovery. Worthy of note is the fact that Manzi stepped in and played with The Sweet on the 2014 Australia tour, covering on guitar/keys, due to the absence of the then Sweet member Tony O’Hora.

The Sweet covered all their eras with aplomb, and we were given a dose of the early Pop, then the Chart-busters (all of them pretty much), the Rocky stuff, and some new stuff too! It was a different set to those seen and heard in Europe, but a great song choice and the band seemed to be ‘unshackled’ in many ways, playing much harder and ‘open’.

It was a shame not to hear the ‘Hello’ song, ’New York Groove’, with it’s mash-up of ‘New York’ by Alicia Keys too, but you can’t have everything! They did ‘Peppermint Twist’, a ‘B’ side (cover) that went to No.1 in Australia back in 1974! Loads of other great songs too, and ‘Set me free’ was delivered really well, as well as ‘Windy City’ too.

The Sweet were and still are a great rocking band…. more than usual tonight, with some good ‘cover’ from Randall Waller, the stand-in guitar man, however, Andy Scott’s unique guitar sound and tone was very sorely missed (let alone his hair!).

The singing is excellent, with Manzi really on form, ably backed up by Lee Small (who plays bass). Drumming is solid, Adam Booth having moved from Andy Scott’s Guitar Tech role after Bruce Bisland retired on the drums. Not forgetting Tom Cory on guitar and keys, who has recently produced The Sweet’s current album with Andy Scott.

The Adelaide crowd lapped it all up and had a great time! The Sweet played in the region of 1hr 45mins, which was a perfect set length.

All in all, a great night, with some ‘choice’ Coopers Ale to help it along its way! …… Cheers!

See ya!

Oz in Oz (Australia)