Watching the MAN at Work!

Saturday night in Chicago was terrific! Denielle and I met up with some close friends in the Lincoln Park area to catch an intimate show at Park West. It’s a small auditorium that is host to many top act performances. I didn’t mind standing outside along the sidewalk waiting for the doors to open. Good people and good conversations to distract us from what we were about to experience. Ever hear of the 1980’s band, Men at Work? Well a very special man named Colin Hay, who was the lead singer, guitarist and principle song writer of that group was the performer of the evening.

You have to hear him play, in order to understand why I think he’s so incredible. Sure you might be familiar with songs like “Who Can It Be Now?” or “Down Under.” But he has really matured as a fine solo artist after his record label let him go back in 1991. He figured it was a good thing they did, because if he’s not welcomed anymore than why would he want to hang around with them. He has written and performed wonderful songs accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.

That is what he did at Park West. He stood there on stage holding his guitar, playing, singing and talking. He even told a lot of jokes at times. Colin Hay is really funny. The audience was just rip roaring at his anecdotes, his old tales from back in the day and just telling us about some funny run ins with some of his oddball fans. Mistaken identities in restaurants and people thinking he wrote some song about a goat. I was just surprised how many times I was laughing.

All joking aside, he had like 5 guitars on stage which he tuned himself, live in front of us. It’s just so special to be in a place this small with this living legend on stage jamming away for us. It’s like storytellers from way back when tv stations like VH1 used to air these precious live shows with little tales about the songs being performed. Colin is a regular guy from Scotland and Australia. He tells it like it is but he’s just so damn good playing the guitar. It is fascinating to watch him strum, tune, his wincing facial expressions and the beauty of his vocals.

I’m glad we went. Here is a sample from the show. It happens to be “our song” when we were planning our wedding and beyond. Thank you Colin Hay for an awesome experience!