Sat Nov 29- Thebarton Theatre
It may not have been quite a full house in terms of audience numbers, but there can be no question that ‘The Stevie Show: The Life and Music Of Stevie Wright And The Easybeats’ at The Thebarton Theatre on Saturday night filled the auditorium with nostalgia, great music, and one hell of a show!
Actor/singer/entertainer Scott McRae’s celebration of the life of rock and roll hardman Stevie Wright, is a well produced ‘rockumentary detailing the rise and fall of one of Australia’s most charismatic frontmen. Told in a fabulous narrative of anecdotes, vignettes, interviews and songs, McRae (who Glam Adelaide spoke to recently) has brought ‘Easyfever’ back to the stage in a show that tells it as it is, warts and all and without any attempt to sugarcoat the sad realities that sometimes accompanies showbiz and those involved with it. It is no secret that Stevie Wright’s fall from the top was a hard one, with heroin and hard drinking taking a huge toll on his mind and body. Years of not only substance abuse but a controversial shock-therapy treatment courtesy of the Chelmsford Private Hospital left Stevie a shadow of the energetic and charismatic frontman he was, but undoubtedly he and his band The Easybeats were a tour de force in their heyday with a string of British inspired beats, which McRae devotes his soul into reproducing.
The show opened with a montage of stills, headlines, and a vintage interview with The Easybeats when they were still relatively new, before McRae burst onto the stage with the same exuberance that Wright did and launched straight into Evie (Part1) against a backdrop of the real Stevie. McRae is supported by a stellar band consisting of Mick Malouf (Bass), Jeremy Edwards (Guitar), Rohan Cannon( Guitar), Luke Herbert (Drums), and Rick Melick (Keyboards), whose playing did an amazing justice to the music of The Easybeats.
Throughout the performance, which, I must add, is no cover band but is an absolute ‘rockumentary’ that chronicles as the title says, The Life and Music Of Stevie Wright And The Easybeats. McRae’s narrative adds depth to the story and his style of storytelling is genuine and makes no effort to hide anything from the listener. There are elements of the group’s timeline, interviews with former band members and industry legends such as Snowy Fleet (Easybeats), Angry Anderson (Rose Tattoo), and there are also some surprises such as the revelation that Johnny Young’s hit ‘Step Back’ was actually written by George Young whilst he was on the toilet.
But of course the story of Stevie and The Easybeats wouldn’t be complete without the songs, which McRae delivers with such commitment and precision that if you watched the images of Wright on the screen and just listened to McRae, you would swear it was Little Stevie himself belting out the tunes.
The show is segmented in era’s of Wright’s life and details the early years, the popular years, Wright’s battle with substance abuse and finally the comeback and fall. It is a journey of epic proportions, and a brilliantly chronicled element of Australia’s music history. To this day, Evie is the only eleven-minute song to become a number 1 hit anywhere in the world. No mean feat!
McRae shares songs such as Evie (parts 1-3), Women (Make You Feel Alright), Sorry, She’s So Fine and Friday On My Mind as well as Wright’s solo hits Black Eyed Bruiser and Heaven And Hell. There are some funny moments throughout the show that portray Wright’s mischievous side and the fun times the band shared together, but it also is a tragedy in many ways.The show ends with a brief, recent video of Stevie Wright sharing his thoughts on performing, and how he drew energy from the massive audiences he once played to. It is a poignant, bittersweet moment, because you so desperately want to remember Stevie Wright as the young, vivacious and magnetic frontman he once was. You instead see a face that is barely recognizable from the images you’ve seen displayed on screen all night, ravaged through the years of hard living and the maltreatment at Chelmsford Hospital.
In that aspect ‘The Stevie Show: The Life and Music Of Stevie Wright And The Easybeats’ tells the absolute truth despite it being a story of success/excess, fortune/misfortune, redemption and tragedy.
One thing’s for sure though, there can never be any doubt that Stevie Wright and The Easybeats’ music was anything other than brilliant and influenced a swag of other artists as a result.
For McRae and his band, they’ve done such an amazing job at telling the story that I’d love to think that ‘Easyfever’ is back. I know that as soon as I got home from experiencing this amazing show that I went to my music collection and dug out my Easybeats CD.
It’s easy for us to forget how this music really defined us, so thank you so much for reminding us just how brilliant it still is!
https://www.facebook.com/StevieShow
Reviewed by Darren Hassan
Twitter: @DazzHassan
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