Tina Arena balances songs new and old in Love Saves tour setlist
Long recording careers mean that, as a return to the live arena approaches, tough decisions must inevitably be made. Just ask Tina Arena, whose tour begins in Sydney on Saturday.
Long recording careers mean that, as a return to the live arena approaches, tough decisions must inevitably be made.
Just ask Tina Arena, who spent this week rehearsing with her band at a studio in southeast Melbourne ahead of a tour debut in Sydney on Saturday night.
“It’s never easy doing a Tina Arena setlist,” she told The Weekend Australian, adding: “I think it’s getting harder.
“There is such a massive accumulation of material; I try and cover as many records as I can, but obviously I can’t cover a lot, because I need to focus on a new record,” she said. “I’m trying to work out in my head how I can get this body of work out.”
That new record is Love Saves, her 13th collection and her first album in eight years. On its release in July, it debuted at No.2 on the ARIA chart, marking her ninth career Top 10 album. Last month, the work was nominated for an ARIA Award in the adult contemporary category.
A bold mix of upbeat pop songs and emotive ballads taken from the pages of her own life, the album soundtracks a challenging few years for Arena.
Her long-term relationship with the father of her child ended; her 17-year-old son returned to France; and she found new love in Swedish musician Mattias Lindblom. All set against the backdrop of Melbourne’s enervating Covid lockdowns.
It’s unsurprising, then, that Arena has decided to foreground those songs from Love Saves in the setlist. “It is predominantly the new record, plus some oldies and a few things thrown in between,” she said.
The last time Arena undertook a national tour, Australia was in a very different place. Her run of eight shows in May 2021 was staged under Covid restrictions: masks were the order of the day, and state borders slammed shut behind her.
Those concerts were visually spectacular from a production standpoint, but this time around Arena has elected to pull back on those additional elements. As an independent artist, she sees all the invoices, and estimates that touring costs have since risen 30 per cent across the board.
“It’s predominantly lights and music – that’s it,” said Arena, 55. “For me, it’s back to basics. The last tour was a very costly exercise, from a production perspective. You can’t do a Beyonce (style) production – not that that would interest me now, anyway.”
“If I put myself in the punters’ shoes, I just want to see and hear the music,” she said with a smile. “I’m not interested in a million costume changes; it’s not a runway show, darling.”
After the debut at The Barracks in Manly on Saturday, Arena and her band will visit Perth (Sunday), Gold Coast (October 13), Melbourne (Oct 19-20) and Adelaide (Oct 21), followed by dates in the US, Canada, France and Britain.
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