Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Rick Astley

Rick Astley had a big presence in our household in the eighties. We had his first cassette and it was played over and over so that we knew all the songs and all the words by heart. I'm sure you had those kinds of albums too (another in our house was Bananarama!).

I was so excited months ago when I heard that Rick Astley was coming to Canberra! I asked Mum if she'd like to come with me. It was fantastic timing - only a few days before Tassy's dance concert which they'd be here for anyway (AND Tassy was rehearsing on the stage less than 24 hours after Rick was on it - good vibes). So she said she'd love to and I bought tickets way back then. We had great seats and and the theatre was so full!

Wow he was SOOOOOO good! Of course he has the gorgeous voice. But he was so charming, so funny, so cheeky, so much fun. Why on earth did I expect him to be shy? He so wasn't! In the first song a press photographer was trying to stealthily photograph him by creeping in front of the stage. Rick kept interrupting his singing to cheekily tell him not to aim up his nose but let him do silly poses.



The third song was "She wants to dance with me" and he coaxed a girl in the front row to get up and dance in front of the stage. Well that started a stampede and then there was a mass of girls dancing in front of the stage. At the end of that song he said he didn't know what to do now, the set list said to play one of his new songs but we didn't want to hear a new song. We wanted to hear an oldie! So they shuffled it around and played some more oldies. But the crowd just kept getting bigger!


And yes, he did sing Highway to Hell by AC/DC! Here's a recent recording of it. And he played the drums in that one. He can rock as well as sing the um-cha-um-cha songs (as he called them).

He's singing to me here isn't he! (just agree)


Paul Gray from Wa Wa Nee was on keyboards. He's been around a bit this year! He was also playing for 1927 a few months ago when I saw them and I've seen him on TV a few times this year. It was funny to see him popping up again!


And here's a photo of Rick and me. Aren't we a sweet couple? NB - not my arm.


He did touch my hand tho when I reached out to the stage! It was warm. Ahhh Rick. I'll always remember the warmth of your hand.


6 comments:

Granny Janny said...

Thanks Yvette for one of the special nights of my life. I just loved seeing Rick with you. He is such a nice guy and I just love his voice. We had such a great time. Wish I'd been close enough to touch his hand too. I just wasn't pushy enough!
Love Mum

Shortbread and Ginger said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time - he has a great voice. He has a show on Magic Radio here in the UK on Sundays (except not at the moment because he is touring) but you may be able to hear it online when he returns to the UK.
Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger

Lea said...

I love this post. You are such a big dag. Sounds like you had a stack of fun! I'm surprised you didn't dance on the stage as well. I wasn't a Rick fan. Was a big 1927 fan tho. Karlyn was in love with Bros. We loved George Michael as well.

Anonymous said...

OOOOHHHHHHHHHHH LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! LOL... Had a smile the whole time reading that!!! HA HA HA!
Rick.... your warm hand......:)))) xxxxx
Love Jayne

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Rick especially his Never Gonna Give you up... I wish you had included Sydney Mummy in the tickets. Boo hoo.... luv u aaj

Charlotte said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I'm so glad you got to see Rick and enjoyed it! You know, I think he's one of the first artists I knew all the words to his songs, thanks to you girls! Him and the Xanadu record, I can still sing you all those lyrics! LOL!
I love that you touched his hand, and that he's singing to you there. And that tiny arm of yours. HAHAHAHA! I did think it was your arm! LOL!