Fire Fight Australia: Queen, Russell Crowe, Olivia Newton-John, John Farnham help raise millions
Queen fronted by Adam Lambert reprised the band’s iconic 1985 Live Aid set for Fire Fight Australia, where Olivia Newton-John performed for the first time in two years with John Farnham and Russell Crowe made a special appearance.
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Queen and Adam Lambert created history, linking two of the biggest music charity events by performing their 1985 Live Aid set at Fire Fight Australia on Sunday.
Queen T-shirts were only second to the official Fire Fight koala shirt as the most popular attire and the roar of the crowd when they took the ANZ stadium stage could be heard for kilometres.
And after a video message from Prince William, it was time for more royalty in Queen as the fundraising total leapt over the $9 million mark after 11pm.
“This is Australia’s pain but it’s humanity’s problem,” Queen co-founder Brian May said.
“My heart has broken seeing the plight of the animals. I hope the concert will help them too. We all need this tragedy to never happen.”
Drummer Roger Taylor added: “This would seem to be not only Australia’s problem but a climate change problem that affects the whole world. We are here right now and anything we can do to help in finding Australia a way to recover is the least we can do as musicians. We are all in trouble.”
The band were generous enough to donate their stage for the event (left up from playing the previous night) but unlike Saturday, Queen reigned without rain.
The 2020 model Queen opened with the 70s model Bohemian Rhapsody (at least the first part thereof) and suddenly it was back to 1985 and Live Aid.
Indeed it was the identical classic Live Aid set – and why not – that is seen as the blueprint for a bite size charity concert performance.
So for the first time since 1985 it was all there – Radio GaGa and the handclaps, the ‘Ayo’ vocal warm-up (on video supplied by Freddie Mercury), Hammer to Fall, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions.
The irony is that millions of people watch that Live Aid performance on YouTube each year, now they’ve updated it – just with a few key members gone but not forgotten.
And it’s not news, but Adam Lambert is a magical vocalist.
“When we heard about the fires in Australia our hearts were broken,” Lambert said.
“You all have the love and unity to make this problem better.”
Russell Crowe delivered 19 cheques totalling $105,000 to Rural Fire Serve Captain John Lardner after crews saved the family’s Nana Glen property.
The concert then crossed to Michael Buble in Melbourne, where he hosted volunteer firefighters in his audience, before homegrown hip hop heroes Hilltop Hoods delivered another set to get the crowd bouncing.
Special guest k.d. Lang, a longtime honorary Australian, struck an emotional chord with her signature version of the Leonard Cohen hymn Hallelujah.
Earlier pop heroine Amy Shark looked close to tears after finishing her opening song Adore before erupting into a megawatt grin as she sang All Loved Up.
“This is the greatest day of my life,” she told the crowd.
From boys to men, 5 Seconds of Summer’s homecoming to perform at Fire Fight Australia left no one in doubt about why they have become one of the biggest acts in the world.
Fire Fight closed out with two of Australia’s most loved and enduring artists, Icehouse and then John Farnham with fellow national treasure Olivia Newton-John to sing Two Strong Hearts.
HIGHLIGHTS
GRINSPOON
Grinspoon kicked off their set stealing a little Queen thunder, with frontman Phil Jamieson leading the crowd in the ‘Ayo’ chant Freddie Mercury made famous during Live Aid.
The band, renowned for their take-no-prisoners performances on Australia’s biggest festival stages brought the rock to the Fire Fight.
After power anthem Chemical Heart, they smashed into the melodic punk chant of Just Ace, the blistering Lost Control and the cheeky closer Hard Act To Follow.
JESSICA MAUBOY
Jessica Mauboy injected some upbeat pop vibes into the event.
Bursting on to the stage in a bright pink short jumpsuit, Mauboy smashed into Saturday Night and barely took a breath before backing it up with Can I Get A Moment.
“I’m feeling so much love right now,” she said.
Rounding out her four tracks, she also performed her tracks Sunday and We Got Love.
PEKING DUK
Dance act Peking Duk turned ANZ Stadium into a massive nightclub for their 20 minute set.
The event was particularly personal for the duo, with family members losing a home.
Bangers and mosh were the order of the day – while their hit Take Me Over began acoustically it came home electronically.
As well as Stranger and Say My Name, their breakthrough hit High remains an absolute track.
In between encouraging fans to put someone on their shoulder (much to the horror of security guards) the pair also asked punters to travel to regional areas and buy pies from their local bakeries.
DELTA GOODREM
Delta Goodrem managed to shoehorn as many hits as possible into her 20 minute Fire Fight Australia slot.
First was someone else’s hit – draping herself in an Australian flag (with the indigenous flag represented on the screen behind her) to perform I Am Australian, which quickly became an audience singsong.
Delta had plenty of her own – Born to Try, Sitting on Top of the World (with the lyrics tweaked to Sending Our Love to the World), Lost Without You and Wings.
The musician also performed Let It Rain, rush-recorded to raise money for bushfire relief.
“I wrote this song because I wanted the fireys and the volunteers and the families to know we were with them,” Goodrem said, noting “When one Australian hurts, we all hurt.”
The song took advantage of the children’s choir and string section on stage with Goodrem.
Her set was short but reminded the country why we all fell in love with Delta Goodrem.
After her performance host Celeste Barber told the audience the event has already raised $6 million from merchandise sales.
RONAN KEATING
Irish singer Ronan Keating was a surprise late minute addition to the Fire Fight Australia bill.
After his party starter Lovin’ Each Day Keating explained his presence.
“I thought it was important I was here today. Even though I was 12,000 miles I heard your cries. I wanted you to know we’re with you, you’re not alone.”
During When You Say Nothing At All Keating channelled another famous Irish man, Bono, and his Live Aid moment by doing a crowd walk through.
Keating kept it short and sweet, finishing with Life is a Rollercoaster.
ALICE COOPER
All makeup and costume, Alice Cooper didn’t disappoint.
Wearing what looked like a ringmaster outfit, the legendary American rocker kept chit chat to a minimum as he put on a spectacular show.
The highlight of his set was very clearly Poison, which had the crowd singing every word. For his last track, Cooper changed jackets to a white number with an Australian flag on his back.
His set list also included Eighteen, Department of Youth and Schools Out.
AMY SHARK
Pop heroine Amy Shark delivered one of the most emotional performances of the day, clearly overwhelmed to stand on that mammoth stage in front of more than 70,000 people.
After performing Mess Her Up, Shark paid tribute to the indefatigable Australian spirit.
“Standing here right now in front of everyone, I think we should all feel really strong and powerful because I think we are the strongest country in the world,” she said.
“Let’s tell the world we said hi Australia,” before closing with I Said Hi and left the stage with tears in her eyes.”
5 SECONDS OF SUMMER
The four young men threw everything into a rock-edged performance powered by songs which have topped the charts worldwide including She Looks So Perfect, Want You Back and Easier.
ILLY
Like Illy did with Last Laugh, they also snuck in a brand new single No Shame.
But the concert reached a crescendo when they closed with the killer pop smash Youngblood, with the crowd rousing in full voice to sing the chorus. Even the old folks.
HILLTOP HOODS
Homegrown hip hop heroes Hilltop Hoods know how to get a big crowd bouncing and they burst out of the blocks with Leave Me Lonely, bringing the entire audience to their feet.
Even the grandparents were rocking out to their chart-topping earworms including Exit Sign with their mate Illy hanging around after his set to jump on the track.
Adrian Eagle joined them with his voice soaring through the stadium on Clark Griswold and Montaigne, who was voted Australia’s representative to 2020 Eurovision last week on the Gold Coast, added her voice to 1955.
The Hoods finished up at the edge of Queen’s stage runway with their energetic Cosby Sweater.
ICEHOUSE
With frontman Iva Davies in fine form, Aussie rockers Icehouse dedicated their set to the victims of the bushfire crisis.
And it turned into a family affair with Davies son Evan joining the band for the track, We Can Get Together.
They were also joined by William Barton for their pub rock classic Great Southern Land and moving into Electric Blue.
JOHN FARNHAM AND OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN
There was no mistaking the message in the opening song of John Farnham’s closing set for Fire Fight Australia.
Back in 1988, Age of Reason captured a collective consciousness, a desire to address the question “what about the world around us?”
In 2020, the question remains the same.
Just as timeless is that voice, the one which is woven into the DNA of Australia, as he exercised its strength effortlessly on Pressure Down.
And then the magic moment arrived when his bestest friend Olivia Newton-John joined him for a rousing version of Two Strong Hearts.
Farnham brought the 10 hour concert to a celebratory, goosebumps end with Queen’s Brian May and Mitch Tambo joining him to reprise his indigenous language verses of You’re The Voice which won hearts when he performed the version on Australia’s Got Talent last year.
The finale featured more than a dozen fires walking on stage to huge cheers and deserved thanks for their valiant service.