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Live Review: Lionel Richie, John Farnham

Deborah Jackson

It was hard not to feel bad for him as people filed out en masse during Dancing On The Ceiling, Hello and All Night Long (All Night).

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Two musical legends took the stage last night at Sydney's Allphones Arena, showing the 13,000-strong crowd that they've still got it. First up was our John Farnham. Opening with Age Of Reason, The Voice stole the show, announcing he was “bloody rooted”. He joked that he hadn't worked in a while and had to write down his lyrics, but that this was “not another bloody comeback!” His Human Nature collaboration Every Time You Cry was a crowd favourite that saw everyone up out of their seats and dancing, but it was when he slowed it down a bit with Survive that it really got interesting. An adorable little old lady approached the stage with a hot pink bra and handed it to him; Farnham was unable to regain his composure, laughing throughout the whole song, saying, “That was just really funny… it was still warm!”

“I'm 65, I'm not dead,” was Farnham's mantra as he made his way through all of his greatest hits. He was visibly struggling to bend down and accept flowers and handshakes from swooning ladies, but we wont hold that against him. Ending his set with You're The Voice, and treating fans to an encore of It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll) Farnham showed the crowd why he is still The Voice, and why he's allowed to make as many bloody comebacks as he likes.

Entering the stage almost 40 minutes late, Lionel Richie, seeming a bit drunk, screamed, “Sydney, Sydney are you ready?” before launching into a rendition of Just For You. The highlight of his set was his dedication of Endless Love to a guy in the audience who had just proposed to his girlfriend, having the audience stand in for Diana Ross and sing along.

To be honest, his set was a little underwhelming: few people stood when he asked them to get up and dance, and a sea of people exited the arena early. It was hard not to feel bad for him as people filed out en masse during Dancing On The Ceiling, Hello and All Night Long (All Night). There were some good moments; every time he sat down at the piano he drank another glass of wine, which got a laugh from the audience, and his voice is still pitch perfect and incredible, but his showmanship left a little to be desired.