Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Kate Ceberano says she is feeling the pressure ahead of her Australian Made Encore Tour, which kicks off in Perth on Friday following the sold-out, charming success of last year’s tour.
“There’s always a lot of pressure when you’re coming back to a show that’s been a very big success, the iconic Aussie singer said ahead of rehearsals at The Hen House in Osborne Park.
“Not pressure from the fact that we can’t do it again, but the pressure to try to make it different.”
The electrifying live performer is set to deliver a refreshed setlist of reworked classics from her own catalogue and fellow Aussie legends, with deeper storytelling since she last toured the nation on the same tour.
All the action kicks off at the Astor Theatre on Friday before heading south for a show at the Boardwalk Theatre in Mandurah and a gig in Margaret River at the Heart.
Ceberano, whose career spans 40 years across pop, rock, jazz and soul, will then jet off to the East Coast to perform 28 more shows.
Ceberano said fans can still expect hits from the lineup of Australian Made and should prepare to be transported back to the 1970s.
“I’m going even further back into the 70s, when I was a real little baby,” she said.
“But the music that was playing on the radio had clearly made a big impact on me, because I remember it almost through that kind of halcyon light of sunlight and dust motes. So I feel like it’s the soundtrack to the happiest time of my life.
“For people to choose to come to your show, it’s a big choice, and I really respect and love that. So, I try to put everything in, the kitchen sink as well.”
The Brave singer will celebrate her 60th birthday in the final week of the tour, which she sees as a statement of momentum rather than reflection.
“Turning 60 isn’t the headline – the work is,” she said.
“I feel strong, empowered and creatively fired up. Being on stage, meeting audiences, feeling that connection… that’s what drives this tour forward.
“I think Australian music needs to take itself more seriously. So, by me paying respect to these songs, I’m exploring and introducing maybe even new people to songs they hadn’t heard, like the Saints, for instance, were a punk band with me growing up, and I guarantee you, a lot of people in the 80s weren’t listening to them because they were a punk band and they liked what Michael Jackson, right?”
Ceberano will be joined again by multi-instrumentalist Kathleen Halloran along with blues-rock powerhouse Dusty Lee Stephensen.
Following her mammoth run of Australia 2.0, Ceberano plans to head overseas for some more concerts, rest and maybe break out her embroidery kit.
“The next chapter is just up for grabs. We’ll just see,” she said.
The Pash hitmaker also touched on the impact COVID-19 had on her creativity and how glad she was to be back on the touring train.
“I found COVID very destructive to my creativity,” she said.
“We were ineligible for any kind of funding, so we were basically at the height of my career, forced into an early retirement. It felt like sticks down. You’re not going to be singing. You’re not even going to be out in clubs for a long while. And I just found that soul destroying.
“I went into all sorts of different art forms. I started painting, and I’m an embroiderer, and I make these huge quilts. And it’s just amazing how creativity manifests its way in other ways.
but to be able to come out of the blocks out of COVID, an encore tour is not what I expected to be doing. But the fact that I’m free to do it, I’m glad to do it.”
