Main Page

Future of Earthly Delites Tour - Sydney
7th February

by Julie Windred

From the moment I got out of bed that morning I was counting down the hours until the concert. I got to the Entertainment Centre early so I could see the guys come in/leave the soundcheck. There was a big wire fence there, and I was disappointed that I couldn't hug them or anything, but I knew that there was a big security guard around the other side so there was NO CHANCE of getting in the fenced off area! A little green van pulled up to the fence and you could see Darren inside. Everyone screamed. Then the van reversed and we saw Daniel who waved to us. He was sitting next to Darren. The van reversed into a parking spot behind a truck or something, the fact was you couldn't see it any more. They all clambered out and Darren came straight up to us. Darren had cut his hair AGAIN! I thought it looked better on him, but the others were swearing by his spikes! He looked up at the sky and the first thing he said to us was "Okay, me and Daniel are going to go in for the soundcheck, but don't wait outside for us cause just in case it rains, we're not coming out we're gonna stay inside after the soundcheck. I'm only telling you this cause I love you (or care about you) guys." and we all nodded. A girl handed him some Star Wars thing and he said "Oh thankyou! I haven't got that!" and he smiled. Then another girl handed him a whole plastic sheet thing full of pictures which she said something was in there for Darren "and Meg Ryan pictures for Daniel" Darren said "Thankyou! We love you guys!" I gave the camera to my friend to take pictures while I tried to get my remix CD cover signed. He signed my cover for me and I don't know why but I'd all of a sudden turned into some humungous fan or something cause I said to him "Seeya at the concert, I'll be in front row!" and he replied "I'll be there!" and I pulled myself away from the gate. We'd seen Daniel sneak inside through another door far away from us, and we were a little disappointed but we excused it cause he was "shy". So I'd packed all my stuff away into my bag, and then guess what happened? Daniel came up to the fence, so I had to pull ALL my stuff out of my bag again! He said to us "Hey, did Darren tell you guys? We both fell off the stage last night in Brisbane, that's why we're limping a little!" We all laughed and he headed up to the corner to sign things. I didn't get a chance to talk to Daniel cause the girls next to me were saying "Can we take a picture of you?" and he responded "Sure" and then I handed him my cover and he looked down to sign it and the texta wouldn't work for him! I laughed at that. The girls then said to him "Could you smile?" and he put a polite smile on his face while he was looking down (you know, the ones where you don't show teeth) and I could tell he was sniggering at them underneath it all! They also asked him if he remembered them from the Enmore Theatre concert last year. He said "When did I see you guys, after the show?" and they said "Before and after." and you could see him standing there thinking and saying "Enmore Theatre." and they just said "Yeah we saw you and (I think they said) you nearly ran us over with the car" I walked away from the fence leaving Daniel to skim the rest of the crowd.
The soundcheck was running late, so we had to wait around for the concert, and we finally got inside at about 1/4 to 8. I looked at the set up, the first row of seats had been chopped up so that it started from seat 4 across the front of the stage which jetted into a long catwalk through the middle that went for about 5 or 6 rows! The whole stage (including catwalk) was all fenced off and there was HEAPS of security guards, I had 5 just within the vicinity of me! A lady passed us and said "I hope you don't have camera's with you cause they're not allowed in here!" and we all shook our heads no. Now I was beginning to panic, making it REALLY hard for my friend to calm me down. I was panicking cause I had promised photographs, but I had 5 security guards who could spot me taking them and they'd confiscate my film. I did NOT want to lose my film when I had outside pictures of them in there! So I was using my friend’s top (that she was no longer wearing cause she'd changed) to hide the camera and while the support band "Fourplay " were on I was fiddling with it to get it onto the right mode. The lights came up when they'd finished (which they were pretty good too!) and I fixed up my camera seeing that I would have left the flash off if I'd taken a photo cause I didn't have it on the right mode! When Savage Garden came on, we raced straight for the barrier, and the next 3 rows all tried to squish in front too, while others flocked to the catwalk. Oh, I forgot something! When I came in, I saw Daniel's keyboard was on the LEFT side of the stage! I was SO disappointed because I thought I would have been in front of him!
As I was saying, after the support act it took Savage Garden 40 mins to get onto stage!  We entertained ourselves by watching the people in the stands who were doing the mexican wave and screaming whenever it was their turn to stand up. It went around the whole centre at least 5 times before they gave up on doing it. Eventually Savage Garden turned up. Lee (bass guitar) came out on stage followed by Ben (Lead guitar). There was guitar music playing, and I looked over the other side of the stage to see this lonesome figure shrouded in darkness making his way down the stairs playing his guitar. It was Daniel! And next thing I knew, Darren was on the top of the stairs in a long black coat with white lining. His boots clearly looked like they were too big for him! They burst into song with Tears Of Pearls, instruments AGAIN louder than the vocals (they'd had the same problem with the support act), and without stopping they just rolled into Love Can Move You and I didn't even notice until Darren sung the last part of the chorus! Darren was strutting about on stage like... Mick Jagger. Everytime he wasn't singing in Tears Of Pearls, he would spin around and around on stage to let his coat fly out, he took it off and wrestled with it to get it off cause it got caught on his watchband! So he was tugging it and finally threw it to the guards. Then, in his skin-tight grey long-sleeved shirt, he strutted the stage, patting his heart and baring his chest for somebody to strike. During Tears Of Pearls, he threw the microphone stand onto the ground - purposely of course. At the beginning of the song, flowers were thrown on stage for them. A whole bunch went soaring through the air, sailing past Daniel and splattering everywhere as it hit the floor. More and more flowers were thrown, Daniel stepping out of the way as he played his guitar. Darren, on the other hand, was remaining strict to whatever he had planned, he went over to crouch down on the edge of the stage on the left side, and another small bunch of flowers were flying in that direction. Darren still bent down and, in what I would have viewed as a frustrating manner, hit or perhaps blocked the flowers with his arm while he was singing and they went flying back toward the front of the audience. A sunflower was also thrown on stage, but bounced off and one of the security guards ended up with it! During the song, Darren would go up to the guitarists and motion for them to follow him back. After he'd done this to Daniel once, Daniel knew everytime Darren came up he had to follow him. Ben was a little slower. At one stage Darren mimed pulling him along with a rope and then motioned for him to come before he got the message. Daniel was the only one who acknowledged us for the first 20 mins by calling out "Hello Sydney!" and we all screamed back at him, while Darren just paraded around like he was the biggest pop star on earth. I can tell you now exactly how close I was, Darren came in front of me and I could see the sweat rolling down his face by the 2nd song!
They finally stopped the music after Love Can Move You, I won't be able to tell you heaps more cause there was too much in the show! Well, I THINK To The Moon And Back was next. I could no longer wait to take photos, I pulled out my camera and, sneaking behind my friend, I snapped a picture of Daniel playing the keyboards. Unfortunately, the flash went off cause I'd forgotten to put the no flash mode on my camera! So I was cringing after doing that. Daniel didn't actually look like he was enjoying himself, but after the 3rd song a big grin was now on his face! If I'm right about the 3rd song being moon, it was probably cause he got to play it! Then came the Bonnie Rait song "I Can't Make You Love Me". Anna-Maria was wearing this big red cloak and started singing with Darren, who was on the opposite side of the bridge from her (my side) and they started moving towards each other, doing the little hand thing that Darren had pulled off with Bess in "With Or Without You" at the last concert. I snapped another photo (with the mode on this time!) and they came down onto the stage, did the little hand thing again, and then Anna-Maria caressed Darren's face and pulled his head down to lay on her breast like she was comforting a sensitive soul. All the girls started screaming in envy, and I just kept going all through the concert when things like this arose "Oh my god Darren!" and I was actually thinking at that moment "I hope Colby knows about this!" All I remember happening next was Darren was singing and came in front of me with both hands raised in the air clasping the mic and I was going to take a picture, but he moved and I pulled the camera down. The security guard in front of me said "Can you put that camera away?" and I shoved it into my bag.
After this, guess what? I have NO idea how the songs went because my brain was being too overloaded with things, didn't even think I'd remember the first 2 songs! Well, I think the next song was Fire Inside The Man. Darren walked onto the catwalk with every nearby girl screaming and straining to touch his hands, he didn't even make an effort to reach out to them. As he got to the edge, he turned around and yelled out to Daniel who was halfway on the left side of the stage "Daniel Jones, get up here!" and for once Daniel came our way and walked up the catwalk grinning like a chesire cat and took a seat on a stool while Darren stood next to him with a microphone stand. Darren FINALLY decided to speak to us (YAY!) and he said (basically) "I'd like to thank you guys for the past year, we've spent a lot of our time with our feet just above the ground, and it's nice to come back home and see the puppy dogs, our family, our car, all the things that are good about living here." He was wrestling with the lead on his microphone as he said this last bit. Daniel was playing a little tune on his guitar which I thought was actually a song called "Summertime" by the Sundays, but then all of a sudden Darren burst into a rendition of Fire Inside The Man. Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed the live version more than I had the recorded song! After a verse and a chorus, Darren stopped, then he looked out into the audience on the right and started singing "Sugar pie honey bunch (everyone then joined in singing) you know that I love you. Ooh I can't help myself, I love you and nobody else" and broke back into Fire Inside The Man. Everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves at this point. They also sung Promises while they were up there. Darren then positioned himself at the edge of the catwalk on the stage. He said "We were dragged off to the US last year. Two untanned Logan City boys stood out from everyone else. *laughs* This song we wrote because it's how we felt at the time." He then started singing Santa Monica. It was sometimes hard to hear Darren over the instruments. Darren would often sing things he would say too, once while he was singing, um, I think it was Carry On Dancing - he sung that about now - he sung in the middle of it "How you doing Sydney?" and we all screamed our response to show we were truly ecstatic. At the end (I'm sure it was this song!) he put out his hand and said "I think you better stop!" and the lights went out. We all screamed cause of how well he'd done it! Darren had a lot of costume changes as the lights went out. One of these (I guess!) was into a long silver cloak - which I thought was quite reminiscent of E.T.! He walked onto the catwalk, singing "Mine", where large gusts of air were being blown up underneath him, and he lifted his cloak out to catch the wind and fly up. It didn't exactly work the way he'd planned it though because the wind blew the cloak up between his legs and he bent down while he was singing to, well I assume to fix it up, but he stood back up again and the cloak was still between his legs. He walked back then which fixed the problem, and held the side of his cloak out. It radiated red and so did the smoke which was billowing up from beneath him. Casting the red light on him was a good effect. He let go of his cloak and pulled the hood down so you could see his head. I looked over to the keyboards to see Daniel MOSHING to the song! I mean, of all songs he could headbang to, he picked one of the slowest! Something else I noticed about Daniel too, about 5th song in or something and every song after that, Daniel was singing the same lines as Darren but not what the backups were singing! I was so ecstatic to see Daniel singing but the only thing was, he wouldn't do it in front of a microphone so you couldn't hear him! He just walked around the stage with his guitar and sang away along to Darren. I would have liked to have heard him!
So anyway, Darren took the coat off, sang another song, and towards the end of this song he picked up one of those police bullet-proof jacket looking things from the security guard. Daniel was wearing one of those since the start! The lights went out and Darren put the jacket on, bursting into a rendition of Break Me Shake Me as the lights came on. He walked over to Daniel and I gather that might have been the little fight or something they were supposed to have. They didn't really do much except try and tread on each other's feet! Anyway, Darren went onto the catwalk, Daniel was quickly on there with him, they were doing exactly the same thing and I couldn't help but pull my camera out again and snap 2 more photos while Daniel was within my range! Also I guess it was the beginning of this song or something, Darren was up on the bridge pointing at the drummer and yelling "Hey you! Stop that!" cause Karl (the drummer) was doing some little solo of his own accord and, from what my friend tells me, Darren was trying to do up his jacket at the same time, she said that he couldn't get the zipper to do up so he tugged at it and the zipper broke! She said that's why he just ended up walking around with the jacket open! Karl finally did get back into the right drumbeat and Darren said "Thankyou!" to him and yeah, I guess that's when he went down the steps and headed over to Daniel. The next thing I remember (from the catwalk), Daniel came around to the front of me and I just HAD to get a photo. As soon as I'd taken it, the same security guy in front of me gave me a very stern look and said "NO MORE!" and I said "Okay." and put it away. I'm glad I got 5 pictures, I was feeling so bad about only having 2 that I took the chance of taking more, but all I really wanted was a picture of Daniel in front of me (this was the 2nd time he'd come over) and I'd gotten it. I didn't take any more pictures cause I was not going to risk the shots I did have! They're up on the OzOrg #savagegarden website. Daniel was playing the end of some song when Darren ran back to the stage. I actually was keeping my eye on Daniel, but when I followed Daniel down the catwalk and looked at the stage, Darren was gone and so were both the backup singers! Then Daniel and the rest of the band left. 5 minutes later (while we were listening to some kind of rock music and waiting), Darren appeared back on stage in a long white coat & purple glasses with the two backups behind him in short black skirts and tops with big feathered purple and pink cloaks over them, and bearing short blonde wigs on their heads. I think they were supposed to be Meg Ryan clones. Darren stopped at the edge of the catwalk, the two girls behind him. The rest of the band came on stage and the song (All Around Me) began. As soon as Darren started singing, he and the girls walked down the stage swinging their hand from side to side as they clicked their fingers and swayed their bodies - kinda like you were watching a fashion show. This song was very well choreographed - everyone was raving about it when they came out at the end of the show! Darren and the girls spun around to face the stage (and Darren's glasses went flying off his head when he did so!) and spun back. I gather Darren had run his head under a tap while backstage cause as he turned he sent water flying everywhere off his head! So they kept turning and he kept singing up the front of the catwalk with the girls behind him and the girls kept singing the chorus and he was saying "I can't stop, they won't let me!" and he kept singing, then Anna-Maria pushed him out of the way to get in front of him and he said "Hey Anna! Don't do that! I'm the singer here!" and then Nicole did the same thing and he whined "Nicole!" and then he somehow got in front of them again and continued singing while they went back down the catwalk to the stage, Nicole went to the right side of the stage and flirted with the guitarists (she was a MAJOR flirt this girl!) and Anna-Maria went to the left over to Daniel. Now, this was so interesting that I ignored Nicole AND Darren to watch these two! Anna-Maria decided to flirt a little with him and she walked around him, Daniel got the idea - he had a big grin on his face and they began to walk around each other like a dosey-doe keeping their eyes connected. She had made everyone else jealous when she'd done that duet with Darren, but now she was making me terribly jealous!!! Then she kind of wandered off back to her microphone with Nicole doing the same thing, and Darren finished the song. 2 songs later though I noticed that Daniel, of his own accord, wandered over to the backups with his guitar and stood next to Anna-Maria. She saw him there and lightly tapped him on the face as if to tell him that he was naughty and shouldn't be up there! Of course, Daniel kept grinning though at his devilish behaviour! As I've said, I have no recollection of what order things happened in or when songs came, so I am just telling you what comes to me next. Well, the thing that I remember a lot about was "I'll Bet He Was Cool". As soon as the song started and Darren placed himself on the chair (sitting backwards on it but facing the audience) the Entertainment Centre erupted in a very loud scream. This was obviously the most popular "bonus track"! Darren lent on the back of the chair, and turned his head sharply to the left or right whenever he said a line - as if he was in one of those musical movies where a person sings when they're telling a story. One VERY cute thing that he did though during this song was when he was playing peek-a-boo with the girl in the stage/catwalk corner on my side of the stage. He would look at her very shyly and hide behind the chair, then he'd slowly move his head back to look at her and then hide again. It was so funny and very cute! Next thing he did was get up off the chair to sing, dragging the chair up and down the catwalk with him. I was just waiting for him to start spinning it around like in the Backstreet Boys' "As Long As You Love Me" film clip! Towards the end of the song he picked the chair up in his hands and, like a trainer fighting a lion at the circus, he put it in front of him pushing it forward and fighting the air! I found myself wishing there was a window or something in front of him so he could throw the chair through it and break it (but that would have been better if it was for Break Me Shake Me!). Let's see, what else was there? Well.... we'd been in the concert for a while and then Universe started up. Out of the whole concert this was the only song I'd sung to! So I was watching Darren walk along the catwalk, I didn't really pay too much attention to him (I find when I sing, I tend to ignore what they're doing!) and I turned around and Daniel walked over to Ben when we were nearing the end of the song - he had something planned and he was hinting to Ben what they were going to do. You know the bit "But you know that, this time I'm gonna make you mine" and how they have the guitar strumming in the background? This is what Daniel had planned, he showed Ben the first time what they were doing, and then for every time after that Daniel and Ben were face to face, bent down low, bouncing a little while waiting for the next one, and then they'd strum the guitar and laugh. It was funny - I think that was another little "cute" part of the show! But eventually the song finished, and Daniel retreated back to his keyboard - only after throwing one of his picks out to the audience AWAY from me and my friends! When Daniel returned over next to the keyboard, I saw him pull another pick off the bottom of his microphone, he had like 5 lined up there still! But unfortunately he didn't throw them all out. Something else I just remembered, Darren commented during the concert "Thanks for all your love and support, and you know what? All these songs from the album were recorded in Sydney!!" We all cheered and Daniel added "Yeah, in Kings Cross!" I laughed at that (just cause of the reputation of the area!). Another thing I've forgotten to tell you about Darren (sorry!) was that early in the show he had climbed down off the stage and had run up along the side of the catwalk like he was streaking or something! The security guard tried to catch him but missed! Darren came back down that side and climbed on stage again then. Oh, just remembered, another thing he did! Darren was doing a mini Michael Jackson impersonation on the stage! He was on the catwalk, and grabbing his crotch like Michael does, and his other hand kept pulling that hand away. He only did it about twice, but everytime he did it he had this really surprised look on his face! It was SOO funny!  By now Darren had also changed into another skin-tight shirt thing with a blue horizontal stripe down the front. He sung "This side of me" where he motioned for a woman (2 ppl behind me!) to come onto the stage - I guess cause she was dancing. She shook her head no, and Darren gave her a pleading look but she still said no, so while he was singing he got a 15 year old girl from the other side up onto the stage and she went frantic! She hugged him and wouldn't let go! I think he also said "Do I make you horny baby?" in the middle of the song too while she was hugging him! It looked like Darren was trying to get her to dance, but she was just too excited to do anything, she stepped onto the vents of the wind gusts and her skirt kept flying up! Then Darren would take her hand and hold it up and they'd bow, and then she went back to hugging him again, eventually he got her off the catwalk! Then, I'm sure it was still in the same song, Darren went up to the very front of the catwalk and jumped off!!!!! My friend thought he'd hurt himself cause she didn't see him resurface and I was just trying to see where he was! He walked right along the edge of the catwalk touching ppls hands and then he went to the front row on the other side (didn't come to our side though!) and stood slightly out of reach of the girls who threw their bodies over to reach him, one eventually was able to touch his arm. Then the security guards got hold of him and helped lift him back up onto the stage where he sat recovering whatever strength he had left from running around. Daniel had come forward to stand next to him and Darren just flopped onto his back, so he was lying on the stage behind Daniel with his feet to us (I think I was afraid Daniel would fall off stage again cause Darren had moved him so close to the edge!!!). So Darren was singing while he was lying down and I was thinking what a good tactic it was.
I think the last song they did was I Want You before they left the stage. Darren positioned the mic at the centre of the stage again behind the catwalk and, in Michael Hutchence style, cupped his hands around the mic and sang the words into it. As he had done at the last concert, Darren wanted us to sing chic-a-cherry cola, but this time he didn't even discuss it with Daniel! He just said "Okay, I want you guys to sing this part. Can you sing (sounds out) chic a cherry cola?" and we copied him in the exact way as he walked onto the catwalk and held out his mic to us. Then he repeated it "chic a cherry cola" and we repeated him, then he said "Good, I'm gonna sing the other bit now, what are you going to sing?" and it was like half the place had forgotten cause he got a quieter "chic-a-cherry cola!" in reply! So he sang the chorus, and then we sang our part, and then they wrapped up the song. Oh, which reminds me, I forgot something else! Um, I don't know WHEN it was, just one time that Darren was last to come back on stage (maybe after Mine, he mighta went backstage to take that ET cloak off!) and Daniel was introducing the ppl in the band (the guys anyway), then Darren introduced the back-up singers and the girls started singing a song, no idea what it was! So they were singing, and Darren came down the stairs on the left, and right up to Daniel who he was patting on the back along to the beat and apparently he told him to "wrap it up" and Daniel shook his head at him! Darren also spread his arms out wide and threw his head back to the roof like he was praying to god while stamping his feet. He'd done that a few times during the show! It looked rather strange!
Well, after what I think was I Want You, they all lined up and took a bow and then they left the stage. The lights stayed off and we clapped and screamed and stamped our feet, they still didn't come out so we just gave up and it went all quiet. Then someone started up a big scream and it took them like 5 minutes to get back out for the encore! I was keeping my eye out for Daniel to come out, but yet again he managed to come out the second I wasn't looking so next thing you knew he was at the keyboard again! They played 2 more songs I think and then they wrapped it up with Truly Madly Deeply. You should have heard the place erupt! That song got the loudest scream out of anything, including the band coming on stage! Daniel grinned and Darren began to sing the song, ppl where swaying their hands in the air (oh yeah, earlier in some of the songs we had Daniel raise his hands in the air and start clapping to get everyone to clap, and later in another song Darren did the same thing, but it was Daniel who kept trying to get us to clap all the time!). Darren stopped to say to us "Now, I want you guys to sing the chorus when I hold out this mic okay?" and we all screamed. He said "I'm not going to start you off you know!" He didn't need to, he held out the mic and we sung the chorus. It wasn't as good as the last tour/concert where we'd sung in time, in tune, like an exact replica of Darren! It was kinda off key and things, but Darren said anyway as he turned back towards the stage "You were beautiful!" That song ended the whole concert. Okay, lastly there is also a few things I observed (apart from the fact that Darren kept putting his arm around Daniel to show they were buddies and to pose for pics even though the media wasn't there!) When Darren turned around, you could see he has this little bald spot on the back of his head! He's showing his age now! And I saw Daniel's birthmark! That was the thing I was most excited about! I jumped up to double check, and it was still there! And for all you guys who didn't know (cause the ones at the concert didn't!) It's on the back of his neck on the left side! Oh, and guess what else? My friend caught Karl's drumstick! I have NEVER seen her so excited in her life! It was signed by Karl and everything, and she was jumping and laughing and so happy that she'd caught it cause now she had a souveniour! As my friend and I left with my family, we passed the stage door where Savage Garden would be coming out. There were already heaps of people there, even though the concert had finished at 10:45pm and we had stood around talking for at least 10 minutes! I couldn't be bothered waiting for them as I'd seen them earlier, so we just left and went home. To this day I am STILL hyped about it, I was saying the next night that I wanted to see it again! I had two more to go and see Darren being a fool all over again! This ends the first Sydney concert, I thought I might be take a notepad to Perth with me just so I could remember the concert! I felt like I had concert amnesia or something cause I couldn't remember all of it!  

Reviews Page

Copyright 1998 Julie Windred