Empire of the Sun
Rick Steele
$35.00 – General Admission
$35.00 – Reserved Seating
*plus applicable service fees and 9% state tax
Out of a burst of joyous colour spelt out in sonics, a child’s voice – unrefined and unawares – leads you into another world. Within seconds, you’re eavesdropping on a street corner where an irresistible block party has unfolded. There, in hazy sunshine, you’re engulfed by a Day-Glo radio show. It’s a lucid dream, a glimpse into a dazzling psychedelic summertime. Jaw dropping, show stopping – it’s a lattice of sound that demands your complete attention. That’s how this truly remarkable album opens up.
With that approach and from those base elements the Avalanches built their album – Wildflower. Created by the band’s core duo – Robbie and Tony Di Blasi – Wildflower is nothing less than Smile reimagined in the Daisy Age – a mind-bending cartoon road movie that’s best viewed with closed eyes and an open mind.
The album’s twenty-one tracks take the listener on a journey that traces a crooked, hand-drawn line from the street recordings of the Viking of 7th Avenue – Moondog – and other outsider musicians like Larry ‘Wild Man’ Fischer and his ad-libbed recordings from the streets of Los Angeles. From there, it moves through the outer-space doo-wop stylings of the Cosmic Rays whilst nodding to more celebrated mavericks like Sun Ra and Van Dyke Parks. The record even pays direct homage to Smile itself on the Biz Markie-led ode to dinnertime ‘Noisy Eater’ (a nod to Brian Wilson’s wigged-out classic ‘Vegetables’).
A pair of hand crafted boots, the tinted Lennonesque glasses, the trademark voice, the whiskey town harp, the grand canyon repertoire, he’s the son of a preacher man dubbed Perth’s grandfather of blues. He has chalked up 69 years on the planet and on the eve of his 10,000th show, Rick Steele isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, continuing to tour and perform constantly.
With four solo albums, several singles, nominations for country performer of the Year and regular appearances in Switzerland , Singapore, literally every town in Western Australia and home town New Zealand, Rick Steele is an act not to be missed.