When I first heard about Billy Ocean touring Australia for the very first time in a long, illustrious career, the only thought that popped into my mind was “I wouldn’t mind checking him out.” However, nothing would compare to the sheer excitement that I’d later feel when I finally purchased myself a ticket to the show. Billy Ocean was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s and here I was, about to witness the man do his thing in concert. Not too long after that I received a phone call from the Entertainment Centre (the venue where he was playing) informing me that my ticket had been “upgraded” from section “D” to “J.” It just didn’t make sense how that could possibly be an upgrade.
Finally, the 11th of June rolled around and I was most certainly feeling the excitement. The first “act” on stage was a DJ spinning a whole bunch of ’70s and ’80s funk classics, ranging from “Word Up” by Cameo to “September” by Earth Wind & Fire and everything else in between. Eventually the opening act hit the stage….her name escapes me right now, but she had a decent enough voice, and she looked pretty good in those tight black leather pants. While she was singing, most folks were making their way into their seats, and admittedly, I was just thinking, “Damn!! I should’ve bought the more expensive ticket! This seat’s pretty crap.” And it was, I seated on the far right hand side of the venue. Also, the whole section right behind me was empty. Later on, some folks who must’ve originally been seated somewhere in the middle of the venue, deceided to move up there for some reason or another….probably to get a better view.
At 8:25pm, the lights went down, the musicians walked over to their instruments and Billy strutted out on stage. While the opening act was on, I was thinking, “What’s gonna be his opening number? Probably “Love Really Hurts Without You.” Yep, that’s exactly what he came out singing. That was then directly followed by L.O.D., and a whole host of other classics ranging from “Nights (I Feel Like Gettin’ Down),” “Mystery Lady” (where he got all sexy in the intro) and “The Colour Of Love,” which featured plenty of crowd participation. That wasn’t the only ballad for the night – he sang quite a of ‘em, including “Suddenly,” “There’ll Be Sad Songs To Make You Cry,” “Lovezone” and even a cover of the Beatles song “The Long And Winding Road,” which he had a huge hit with back in the day. Although he sang quite a few slow-paced songs, he most certainly sang his heart out and he’s still got the moves to go with it. I don’t just mean the dance moves, either – there was one point in the show where a lady slipped him a little card, to which he responded with “Thank you, darling. What’s this? No! Don’t go! I can’t see without my glasses.” Turned out that it was her phone number. Yes, Billy Ocean is still that bad muthafucka.
The highlight of the show for me, personally, was during the song “Stay The Night,” where he explained the meaning of the lyrics to us. These were pretty much his exact words: “There’s this man, who…..what do you call the women here? Sheilas? What about the guys? Blokes? So then….in my best Australian accent (laughter)…..” mind you, this sounded more like a British accent: “This bloke takes out this Sheila….he wines and dines her….then he takes her home…..and she asks him over for coffee!!! But the dirty (he was about to say bastard, but stopped himself) bloke…..wants to spend the night with her. What was his name? Billy?! (laughter) Ok, let’s sing for Billy.”
Towards the end of the show, he grabbed the mic and asked: “Are we in love? All right…since we’re in love, can I be your Lover Boy?” And off he went, into that very song. I was waiting all night for that and I’m glad he finally did it. Next up was “When The Going Gets Tough.” When this was over & done, he did the usual trick of “ending” the show, but of course, it was far from the end.
His encore was a cover of the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes hit “Up Where We Belong.” I’d heard of him doing this song in other parts of the globe, so I knew it was coming eventually. With that, it was then time to really wrap things up and he did just that with “Caribbean Queen.” Before I knew it he was yelling out “Good night, Sydney!!! I’m gonna miss you!!!” See ya. Overall, it was the best damn show I’d seen all year. He really knows how to work a crowd and you could tell that he was in an excellent mood. I wanted to get his autograph at the end of the night, but I don’t think he came out. Oh well. Next time, Gadget!!!
