James Reyne has announced today he’ll undertake a national tour from October to December this year, marking 35 years since he wrote his celebrated song, ‘Reckless’.
The Reckless tour, featuring James and his band, some of the finest musicians in the country, commences on October 13 at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre before heading to Perth for two Astor Theatre shows on November 2 and 3. It will head to Melbourne’s Palais Theatre on November 24, followed by two dates at Brisbane’s Tivoli Theatre November 30 and December 1, and concluding in Adelaide at Thebarton Theatre on December 8.
‘Reckless’, penned by James Reyne and released by Australian Crawl on their chart-topping 1983 EP Semantics, has become a national staple. Kicking off with these memorable lyrics, “Meet me down by the jetty landing. Where the pontoons bump and spray. I see the others reading, standing. As the Manly Ferry cuts its way to Circular Quay”, it is arguably Australian Crawl’s most popular and successful song.
James says, “This year, 2018, so I am told, marks the fact that the song ‘Reckless’ was released 35 years ago; and far be it for us to let this way-post slip by unheralded, so we’ve decided to mount a tour of our very favourite theatres throughout the land to showcase it and many and all of the songs that happily seem to mean something to so many of you wonderful and supportive folk, and that also mean something to us.
How certain songs take on a life of their own is beyond me, and ‘Reckless’ (and others) seems to have. Is it in the stars? Is it just a fluke of nature? Is it destiny pre-ordained? Fate? Providence? Karma? Kismet’s plaything? For a song that, from memory, seemed to take a very short time to write and that I never quite knew of what it spoke or meant, (except that it has a vague theme of “aloneness”, and that we should be taking guns right out of the hands of idiots) and that I was always planning on “sorting out” the lyrics so that they hung together – but through nothing but abject laziness never got around to doing – it has certainly served me well and I’m forever grateful for that.
So mark the dates. It’s going to be a fun and hit-filled night with the full six-piece band locked and loaded to thrill you, chill you, skill you and fill you with rock and roll joy and delight!”
James Reyne is an artist who has sold more than two million albums and written some of the most memorable Australian songs of all time. His songs have provided the soundtrack to endless Australian summers – alongside ‘Reckless’ are such classics as ‘The Boys Light Up’, ‘Beautiful People’, ‘Lakeside’, ‘Daughters Of The Northern Coast’, ‘Fall Of Rome’, ‘Hammerhead’, ‘Motor’s Too Fast’ and ‘Slave’.
James has been a part of our lives since making an unforgettable debut on Countdown in 1979, with both arms in plaster (the result of being hit by a car, crossing Swanston Street in Melbourne).
“Lucky for the Australian music industry that James Reyne chose to strut through its door in 1979,” Wendy Milson and Helen Thomas wrote in their 1986 book Pay To Play. “His was exactly the profile … an injection of chutzpah to recharge a listless business burdened with hard-to-market punk acts.”
In her 1992 book Your Name’s On The Door, Tracee Hutchison noted that Australian Crawl “boldly explored an ‘Australian-ness’ that was unique at the time and which broke a lot of ground in the development of an Australian ‘sound’.”
As Ed St John declared in the liner notes for Australian Crawl’s farewell album, The Final Wave, “They had a distinctively Melbourne twang that recalled the sounds of many of that city’s great bands – Skyhooks, Jo Jo Zep and The Sports – whilst also stating a youthful, sexy confidence that was all their own.”
James was a member of Australian Crawl for seven years, releasing four studio albums in five frenetic years in the ’80s. He’s been a solo artist for the past 28 years, releasing nine studio albums, plus two acoustic collections, a tribute album and three live albums.
Thirty years after it was released, Australian Crawl’s debut album, The Boys Light Up, was featured in The 100 Best Australian Albums. “Australian Crawl would never have gone much beyond their living rooms on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula,” the authors noted, “had it not been for singer/songwriter James Reyne … a keen observer of human nature and a man with a vitriolic wit.”
James’ distinctive diction has also attracted attention. Semantics producer Mark Opitz said: “No one else sings like James Reyne. He is unique, and you don’t want to lose that.” While Ed Nimmervoll said it’s a voice “as familiar to us as the taste of Vegemite, as essentially Australian”.
Australian Crawl sold more than one million albums in Australia, placing four albums in the Top 5, including 11 weeks at number one.
JAMES REYNE: RECKLESS NATIONAL TOUR
SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER
ENMORE THEATRE, Sydney
FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER
ASTOR THEATRE, Perth
SATURDAY 3 NOVEMBER
ASTOR THEATRE, Perth
SATURDAY 24 NOVEMBER
PALAIS THEATRE, Melbourne
FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER
THE TIVOLI, Brisbane
SATURDAY 1 DECEMBER
THE TIVOLI, Brisbane
SATURDAY 8 DECEMBER
THEBARTON THEATRE, Adelaide