Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton, QLD
Sunday February 28, 2016 :
It’s been some time since Rob Thomas has graced Australian shores and with the release of his new and third solo album, The Great Unknown, Rob bringing his tour to Brisbane’s Sirromet Wines, a popular venue that has hosted a swag of great musicians over the last 10 years.
Playing a steady mix over his two decade career with Matchbox 20 and quite a fair amount of his solo music, including ‘Lonley No More’, ‘Ever The Same’ and ‘Unwell’ keeping the momentum along the way. He moves with ease across the stage, dancing and jumping all over the stage, working up quite a sweat.
It gets touching when an old beaten up piano is wheeled out for a song he introduces, “This is a song reminding yourself that every now and then, every little moment, including this one that what we are sharing right now is one that we won’t get back, so you should appreciate it.” He launching into ‘Little Wonders’, a song that featured on the soundtrack of Meet the Robinsons. Staying seated at the piano he plays a slowed down rendition of ‘3 AM’, a touching version that launched Matchbox 20 onto the charts when it was first released.
He doesn’t slow down for long, launching into a cover of Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ and Santana song ‘Smooth’ which has the crowd dancing. It’s clear to see from the amount of energy that Thomas pours into the show that he gives and gains a lot of entertainment with the performance. He connects with the crowd, congratulating two women who have a banner celebrating cancer free status and Rob, whose own mother is a cancer survivor, stops to give them an encouraging word, a gesture that is genuine.
With the high energy show coming to a close Rob has belted out the hits over almost two hours and has been non – stop evening of dancing and the occassional solemn moment. Wrapping the evening up with ‘This Is How A Heart Breaks’, Thomas forgoes an encore, leaving the crowd on a high.
Review and Photography : Amanda Starkey
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