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Posted on February 7 2010
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Review: Rob Thomas - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, VIC (5 February 2010)

When I heard that Vanessa Amorosi was the support act for the Rob Thomas concert, I was excited. It was 2 years since I had seen Amorosi perform and I was excited to hear and see the brand new set. Unfortunately my excitement got too far ahead of me and I was sadly disapointed.

Writing as an avid fan of Amorosi since her Promotional release of 'Get Here' in 1998 and her first commercial debut in 1999 with 'Have A Look' I found myself uninspired at what I am witnessing. Sure she can still sing and sure I really enjoy listening to her, however there is a transformation occurring right before our eyes tonight at Rod Laver Arena and I am not sure I like it. There was a mixture of the oldies like Shine and Absolutely Everybody combined with a few new tracks like Aliens and UFO's, Baby's on Ice, Kiss Your Mama and Hazardous that just fell flat. I think the most enjoyable part of the set was between when she performed her 2008 hit 'Perfect', which was the first time tonight that we saw what Amorosi was capable of and when she got off the stage. I am not going to lie, it saddens me to have to say that, I have seen Amorosi more than a dozen times in the last 10 years and I even drove from Sydney to Queensland just to see her once. However naturally it appears that what once was a bright young star of Australia has now turned into a fading starlet that is getting chewed up by the major label system and stocked on the shelves amongst the Britney’s of the world. My only advice to Amorosi if you read this is to get in touch with your roots and get rid of all the fluff, because with a voice like that you don't need to wear reflective tiny three inch short pants and Tutu’s to get your music across we are already listening. There is a lot more I could write about this set however this is a Rob Thomas concert so on to the main act.

After a decade as the front man for rock band Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas broke off to launch his solo career in 2005 with the debut album Something To Be, becoming the first solo artist from a rock group to debut at number one. He’s best known for the 1999 triple-platinum hit “Smooth” he co-wrote with Santana.

The lights go down and the crowd is going crazy for Thomas to arrive on stage and boom there he is with the first track 'Fire on the mountain'

The setting although in Rod Laver Arena is purposely built to feel intimate. Thomas will never be cool and the 10,000 plus people here agree that it is cool to not try to be cool.

For Thomas it seems that he is genuinely happy to be in Melbourne, I don't know what gave it away but I think it was the 20 odd times he mentioned it during the set or the fact that he admitted that he feels like an honorary Australian. It really doesn't matter either way Thomas is always welcome here. As he begins playing Track 4 which is one I actually know the words to 'Lonely No More' I start to really get into the show and understand what it's all about. Other tracks that following are Mockingbird, Natural, Ever the Same and the title track Cradlesong, and yes Rob we were listening when you tried to explain that those in the biz call it a title track.

Before I arrived at Rod Laver tonight I heard a rumour that INXS would be joining Thomas on stage tonight, however I thought it was only a rumour, as I prepared myself to hear some Matchbox Twenty tracks, Thomas announced that he would not be playing any Matchbox Twenty because he has something way better for us. To be honest my first thought was that he was going to invite Amorosi back on stage to redeem herself from the earlier atrocity of cheesy pop songs and allow her to belt out some solid rock tunes for us, but that wasn't to be.

Before I knew it the Farris brothers were on stage with Thomas performing their hit 'Never Tear Us Apart'. Which Thomas was rumoured to be recording for the INXS tribute album. It was the perfect way to finish the evening and put me in a great mood to battle the 200 odd people that were crammed into the Tram on the way home.

All in all Thomas did us proud and deserves 7 stars for the show.

Review by Brad Buisson

 
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