ON THE ROAD WITH GARY ALLAN.

Australia is practically Gary Allan’s second home. When he first came here way back in 2000, he had no profile as an artist – his first album to be released in Australia (the smoking honky tonk classic Smoke Rings in the Dark) had been out for a week and a video was about to debut on CMT. With only his guitarist Jake for support he did a series of blistering acoustic shows opening for acts such as Jimmy Little and Adam Harvey at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, winning over the hearts of a multitude of Aussie fans and generating huge word of mouth.

Eight years and four albums later, Gary Allan is a huge star in the Aussie market and this March he set out on his biggest Australian tour yet – THE LIVING HARD TOUR. Joining him on the road were Steve Forde, Corb Lund and Morgan Evans.

Steve Forde opened for Gary on his 2005 TOUGH ALL OVER TOUR, and since an enduring friendship has grown between the two, with Steve making some trips over to the US in the intervening years to catch up and check out some of Gary’s Stateside arena shows with acts like Kenny Chesney and our own Keith Urban. Steve’s rock-tinged performance style is a perfect match for Gary’s high octane live show.

Corb Lund is one of Canada’s coolest country exports – mixing up the narrative lyricism of Willie Nelson with a constantly evolving style incorporating elements of Latin, Western Swing, Blues and Bluegrass. Like Gary he’s made many trips to our shores, at first acoustically, then subsequently with his band the Hurtin’ Albertans, building a profile and enthusiastic fan-base, drawn to quirky stories told in his songs and his charismatic stage presence.

Morgan Evans has had one of the fastest rising careers on the Australian musical landscape in recent years – since winning the Telstra Road to Tamworth back in January of 2007, he’s gone from strength to strength. From performing in front of thousands at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville to dates opening for Aussie superstars Adam Harvey and Shannon Noll in 2007, and the most successful duo of all time, Brooks and Dunn, at their Melbourne and Sydney shows (with Steve Forde). He’s picked up masses of fans who love his unique blend of the sounds of acts like Keith Urban and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl.

Gary kicked off the tour at the inaugural CMC ROCKS THE SNOWYS festival, where he headlined the second night. Although he wasn’t due to go on until 10.40, he couldn’t resist sneaking onstage during the great Jim Lauderdale’s set to duet on a rendition of ‘What’s On My Mind’, which Gary recorded on his 2001 album Alright Guy. Jim and Gary have enjoyed a creative relationship going back many years (Gary recorded the Lauderdale penned ‘Wake Up Screaming’ on 1996’s Used Heart for Sale and the two wrote the track ‘We Touched The Sun’ from the brand new Living Hard album together with Odie Blackman) and were grinning ear to ear for the whole song.

Many hours later, it was time for Gary to take the stage. The crowd were primed, the sun had long gone down and it was time to rock. A flurry of blue lights danced across the stage as the classic Southern rock number ‘I Fought The Law’ pounded out of the speakers. Then the sound of a radio searching for a station, stumbling across ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ then into Gary’s own ‘Nothing On But The Radio’. Then a brief second of silence before mandolin player Levi Dennis rips into the instantly recognisable intro to the current smash hit ‘Watching Airplanes’. As soon as Gary’s vocals started the crowd let out a huge roar, and an even louder one when he walked onto the stage. Gary and his fantastic band led the crowd through 90 minutes of music that put the Rock in CMC ROCKS THE SNOWYS, serving a mix of old hits like ‘Smoke Rings in the Dark’, ‘The One’ and ‘Man of Me’ and new tracks like ‘Learning How To Bend’ and ‘Like It’s A Bad Thing’. The reaction from the crowd showed how quickly the new record has grown on the audience. At the end of the show, the encore finished up with a rowdy rendition of live favourite ‘Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey’, with Jim Lauderdale stepping back onstage to lend some vocal support while Gary and the band traded wild solos and leaving the crowd blown away.

After the festival, Gary and the guys had three days to kick back and relax in Coogee before setting off for the first official show of the LIVING HARD TOUR – the location was perfect for Gary, a Californian native who grew up at the beach. For many of the band, it was their first time in the country and a great opportunity to check out the environs. After a few days of relaxation, it was time to set off to Toowoomba. The tour was designed to play at four different types of shows – Festival, Theatre, Club and Rodeo Arena – on Wednesday night it was the Empire Theatre. The guys arrived mid afternoon and went straight into soundcheck, afterwards stepping out to grab dinner before the show started.

Soundcheck at the Empire, A friendly welcome

The evening kicked off with Morgan Evans, back by long-time bassist Tom (also his brother) and drummer Cookie. He kicked off with a song he co-wrote about ‘really livin’ called ‘Playing With Fire’ and led the crowd through a thirty minute selections of songs from his own pen, including his smash hit single ‘Big Skies’, and two covers, including his own arrangement of the Bruce Springsteen album track ‘No Surrender’ and the anthemic Aussie rock’n’roll classic ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’.

Next up Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans took to the stage. Corb had the crowd in the palm of his hand from the word go, peppering the set list with anecdotes and jokes – the audience eating up his quirky humour and championing of XXX beer. The band, made up of long-time collaborators drummer Brady Valgardson and double bassist Kurt Cielsa and more recent addition, guitar gun Grant Siemens, cooked along, particularly shining on the track Corb described as ‘disco country’, ‘Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer’.

Steve Forde is one of this country’s hardest working country stars, with a loyal fanbase built up over years of relentless touring. The audience erupted as Steve strode onstage with his guitar slung round his shoulders, ripping into the intro of his hit ‘Aussie Philosophy’. The energy he and his band generated fed back into itself and they rocked out on a selection of crowd faves, including Steve’s latest single ‘Summer’s Little Angel’ and his first hit that kicked off his whole career: ‘Rodeo Freak’.

Then after a short break it was GA time. From first line of ‘Watching Airplanes’ it was clear Gary was in fine form. From the tender Tough All Over double-shot of ‘Best I Ever Had’ and ‘Life Ain’t Always Beautiful’ to uptempo rockers ‘Wrecking Ball’ and ‘A Feelin’ Like That’, Allan maintained a level of intensity that proves why he’s one of the greatest live acts in country music. Despite the excellence of the band, and the guitar-oriented style of the show, the highlight of Wednesday night was the acoustic set – at approximately the halfway mark, the band left the stage and Gary drew up a stool, strapping on an acoustic guitar and ripping into a killer rendition of his classic, almost signature tune ‘Right Where I Need To Be’, a mainstay of his set lists since its release. While retuning, he told a funny anecdote about asking for directions while on the way to the venue – ‘If I hadn’t had a translator there’s no way I would have got here. Made perfect sense to everyone in the car but me. It was like 1, 2, 3 on the right, and it’s on the left – I had no idea what the hell he talking about’.
He then went into a rowdy rendition of his ode to flawed humanity ‘Alright Guy’, with Jaime Hanna and Levi Dennis joining him on guitar and mandolin and providing harmonies during the chorus – it was a great performance that was reminiscent of his first trip to Oz, and proved you can rock out without drums or electric guitars.

After the show, the guys chilled in the dressing rooms, winding down before setting off for the late-night drive to the Gold Coast, arriving at the hotel at around 3am. The next day was devoted to spending time at the beach, recovering from the previous night before heading into Seagulls for sound check at 4pm. Being at a club meant there were plenty of opportunities for Corb Lund to indulge his love for cards – which meant he absently-mindedly almost missed his cue to go on, leaving him no time to get changed. Walking on in a t-shirt and shorts, he told the crowd ‘I’ve been told by our tour manager that I have the whitest legs in Australia’.

One key element of all the acts on the tour is collaboration, from the driving drums, bass and rhythm guitar interplay that powers Morgan Evans’ ‘Remember’, the funky western jamming on Corb’s ‘Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer’ to the full band wall of sound pumping into Steve Forde’s ‘Dust’, the band members are just as key a component to the live experience as the stars. Gary Allan’s touring band is made up of some of the greatest live performers in country music, giving a rock’n’roll edge influenced by bands like Lynyrd Skynard and The Rolling Stones while capturing the spirit of Gary’s Bakersfield roots. They were on fire at Friday’s show ; multi-instrumentalist Levi Dennis provided electrifying fiddle licks in ‘Man of Me’; guitarists Jaime Hanna and David Steele swapped swampy solos, parts weaving into each other but never clashing; drummer Tim Horsley getting so into the songs that at one point he stood towering over his kit while laying down powerful fills during ‘Watching Airplanes’ and ‘I Just Got Back From Hell’; keyboard player John Lancaster pounding out soulful honky tonk lines in ‘Songs About Rain’ and CJ Udeen was the showstopper - using a half-consumed bottle of Jack Daniels in place of a slide for the coolest pedal steel solo you’re ever likely to see. Together with Gary, they put on a show for the ages – at the end of the encore, after the guys had just performed a killer version of Tom Petty’s ‘Breakdown’, a woman in the crowd yelled out a request for the full band version of ‘Right Where I Need To Be’. Without missing a beat, Gary tore into the instantly recognisable guitar riff and they brought the house down.

Friday was the day off – that is, for everyone but the Canadians. Gary spent the day on a boat with the guys in the band soaking up the amazing Gold Coast weather, while Corb, Kurt, Brady and Grant set off to Byron Bay to perform at the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival, the world-famous music festival that draws stars from all over the world. The festival is well known for exposing acts to unfamiliar audiences, and as the boys kicked off with an energetic ‘Five Dollar Bill’, then moving into the new military minded material from Corb’s current record ‘Horse Solider! Horse Soldier!’, the crowd at the Crossroads stage (where SugarLand, Don McLean and Ray Davies would perform later that day) grew and grew, casual punters drawn in by the unique sound of the Hurtin’ Albertans. The 45-minute set provoked a great reaction from the festival crowd and further broadened Corb’s appeal among Aussie music lovers.

The sun that set on Friday night rose on the last day of the tour, Saturday March 22nd. Through a combination of driving and flying, Morgan, Steve, Corb, Gary, the bands and the tour crew made their respective ways up to Rockhampton. The Rocky show was at the Great Western Hotel, a stage installed into the rodeo arena for the night, which meant that the vast majority of the audience would be standing.

The line-up outside the venue was massive, stretching down the street and around the corner. The crowd was ready to party from the moment they got inside, loosening up and assembling in front of the stage while they waited for Morgan to take to the stage. The show would be the longest of the tour, with Morgan, Corb and Steve getting 45 minutes each. Morgan took to the stage with a massive grin on his face that didn’t let up for the whole performance, as he powered through killer versions of ‘Big Skies’, ‘No Surrender’, ‘Playing With Fire’, ‘Remember’ and other original ME compositions. Morgan said afterwards that he was blown away that some of the crowd was singing along to songs like ‘Untangle You’ that haven’t been released, who must have learnt the lyrics from seeing him live previously. He closed his set with a breathless ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ that had the crowd rocking out with him.

Corb was greeted with a huge applause by the crowd, containing many loyal fans who were yelling out requests from the first song, another stellar performance of ‘Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer’. The set included the rockabilly influenced tribute to the upright bass ‘Big Bitch Butch Bull Fiddle’, that gave Kurt a chance to show. Grant also had a few blistering Telecaster solos that showed that even songs in march time can rock’n’roll. The show stopper was ‘Truck Got Stuck’, the quirky story song that was a hit off his last record – from the opening of the banjo riff the crowd erupted and sang along for the whole song.

Steve Forde released an album a few years ago titled Rowdy, which both he and the crowd lived up to on Saturday night. Steve Forde music is party music and songs like ‘Beer and Women’ and ‘That’s What I’m Talking About’ seemed to speak especially to the assembled audience, who were singing along with a fervour that only a proper country crowd can bring. Steve was perhaps the most mobile performer of the night, wandering back and forth across the stage, jamming with all the members of his great band. The standout moment of his whole set was during a surprise cover of the Aerosmith classic ‘Walk this Way’, when Steve ran over and climbed up ontop of the massive PA system to belt out the lyrics.

During the break the guys took some time to stop over at the merchandise stand; signing merch and posing for photos with grateful punters. After about twenty minutes, the house lights dimmed, and the crowd could here the sound of ‘Robbing people with a six gun...’. The final part of the show was about to begin. After three amazing performance from Morgan, Corb and Steve, the crowd was expecting a phenomenal show from Gary and they weren’t disappointed.

Prior to the Australian tour kicking off, Gary and the guys had been on a break from touring and had stepped into the rehearsal studio, working up a new set list reflecting the new record he had just released – 9 of the album’s 11 tracks were included. Despite this careful planning, the set list changed every night of the tour, sometime during the show. ‘Man of Me’ was taken out for Toowoomba, then put back in for Tweed Heads and Rocky; the order of the second half of the show was moved around; changes were made every night to reflect different crowds and different venues. The set on Saturday night was electrifying –a collection of tracks from throughout Gary’s career (over ten years of increasing success making country music on his own terms) that showed ever side of him as an artist – the smoking honky tonk of ‘Smoke Rings’, the heartbreaking but never melodramatic ‘Life Ain’t Always Beautiful’, the humanistic humour of ‘Alright Guy’ and the full throttle defiant country-rock of ‘Like It’s A Bad Thing’. By the time Tim Horsley broke into the distinctive beat of Gary’s ‘favourite whiskey drinking song’, the bottle of Jack came out and Steve Forde walked out to help out on vocals, the audience had been on a wild ride – artists representing three countries and many more styles of country music, all at the peak of their powers. THE LIVING HARD TOUR was one of the best tickets in Australia, in any style of music – a journey that kicked off at Thredbo and finished at Rockhampton. Anyone who witnessed any of the concerts would agree that you just can’t beat a feeling like that.

Jeremy Dylan

All photographs taken by Jeremy Dylan and copyright 2008 Seven Shells Media.