Article that Featured in the Herald Sun
Rock 'n' roll war: Legends go head to head
By PAUL STEWART
29 June 2003
A BATTLE of the Old Bands has erupted with two rival rock nostalgia extravaganzas to tour the nation this year.
In one corner is Long Way To The Top 2 – the sequel to last year's $11
million grossing tour by Australia's rock legends.
In the other is Countdown: The Stadium Show, to be compered by Ian "Molly" Meldrum and based on the long-running ABC TV show.
Producers of both shows are scrambling to sign exclusive deals with artists from the golden age of Australian pop and rock. Acts touted to reunite for one or other of the shows include Pseudo Echo, Uncanny X-Men, Boom Crash Opera, Australian Crawl, Mondo Rock, Noiseworks, Men At Work, Kids In The Kitchen, Mental As Anything, The Models and 1927.
Producers have told artists they cannot appear in both shows.
A rock legend yesterday said he and his contemporaries faced the agonising choice between events.
"There's a real buzz in the industry," he said.
"In the end, it probably won't matter which one we go for. Both shows will be playing to huge crowds of devotees.
"It will be like the good old days."
Countdown: The Stadium Show will have overseas stars, expected to include Culture Club, Human League, Thompson Twins, Erasure and Bananarama.
The Frontier Touring Company production will also feature the TV show's original voice-over man, Gavin Wood.
Long Way To The Top 2 spokeswoman Amanda Phelman said the shows would be "completely different", though both were recruiting past stars.
"I think the Countdown show will have more of a pop base then our show," she said.
"We will be sticking closely to the format that we came up with for the first Long Way To The Top concert series.
"Basically, we get the acts on and off pretty quickly and feature hit song after hit song."
The first Long Way To The Top had acts from 30 years of Australian music including Russell Morris, Spectrum, Normie Rowe, Col Joye, Max Merritt, Ross Wilson and Stevie Wright.
Uncanny X-Men's Brian Mannix, and Pseudo Echo member Brian Canham, yesterday said they were excited by the prospect of re-forming.
Neither would say which production they were likely to sign with.
"There has been a lot of talk regarding both shows and things are still being finalised," Canham said.
Mannix said the shows would cater for audiences "wanting to relive their past".
"That era was unique in Australia because, thanks to Countdown, our own local acts were as big as the overseas stars," he said.
Canham said the 1980s were "one of the last true great innovative musical eras".
"People were not afraid to be real pop stars then," he said.
"In the '90s you were not allowed to enjoy yourself and had to pretend you didn't want the fame and glory."