Aussie Rockers To 'Give Peace A Chance' With 'The Words & Music Of John Lennon' Tour

A handful of Australian rock icons will pay tribute to John Lennon this July with the epic The Words & Music Of John Lennon: Give Peace A Chance tour.

Five electric stars – Adalita of Magic Dirt fame, Diesel, The Church’s Steve Kilbey, The Preatures’ Isabella Manfredi, and Kevin Mitchell of Jebediah fame – have joined forces to perform the songs that have defined multiple generations. The quintet will be backed by an all-star band led by Musical Director Ashley Naylor (Even, Paul Kelly).

Together, they’ll perform The Beatles classics and the hits of John Lennon’s career at Brisbane’s QPAC Concert Hall on Thursday, 3 July, Melbourne’s Hamer Hall on Saturday, 5 July, the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, 6 July, and Adelaide’s Festival Theatre on Saturday, 12 July.

You can find tickets on the Give Peace A Chance website.

Here’s what the artists had to say about the opportunity to honour John Lennon next month:

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Adalita:

I’m so excited to be part of the John Lennon "Give Peace a Chance" tour. His music has been a big part of my life since I was a kid, and it always resonates with me. It’s such an incredible opportunity to perform these iconic songs with such amazing artists, and I seriously can’t wait to be a part of this!

Diesel:

I’ve been enamoured by the songs of John Lennon since I was a child and I can’t wait to get my head and hands around his body of work with a truly inspiring array of people on stage.

Steve Kilbey:

John Lennon was the yin in the best songwriting partnership this world will probably ever see. As a singer he made so many breakthroughs into territory up till then unexplored by anyone before him. His music was sublime. It is at the very heart and fabric of the music we now call ‘rock’.

Isabella Manfredi:

It isn’t anything technical, it's more the feeling I get when I hear John's voice. Everything stops and I'm transported. I get the feeling an ancestor is talking to me, or a many-faced god. John the little kid, the jealous man, the loser, the communist, the husband, the outcast, the poet, the bully and the thief.
Everything's on the table emotionally, and there's a purity, a sincerity and an innocence about that even when he's hamming it up. He could make the sweetest melody sharp as a razor's edge, and the simplest lyric prophetic.

Kevin Mitchell:

The music of John Lennon is in my DNA. He has always been my favourite Beatle, and his solo career provides just as much magic as his days with the Fab 4. What a dizzyingly spectacular songbook he has left for us all!