Tina Arena returns with new song Church ahead of national tour
After a 15-month enforced break from the stage, Tina Arena will soon begin a run of shows that is perhaps the biggest national tour of indoor venues since the pandemic began.
When Tina Arena ran out onto the stage at ANZ Stadium in February last year to perform as part of the Fire Fight Australia fundraiser concert, the sense of goodwill was palpable.
“I recall an overwhelming amount of empathy and an enormous amount of love,” she told The Australian. “It was a fantastic event: I felt this incredible surge of emotion and adrenaline, and feeling like I was at the right place.”
The pop singer-songwriter’s powerhouse 20-minute set at Fire Fight was among the highlights during that extraordinary day in Sydney, which raised more than $11m for bushfire relief, but the curtains were soon to come down on the nation’s live performance industry due to the COVID pandemic.
“If someone had looked into a crystal ball and said, ‘Next month you guys are going to be out of work for the next year and a bit’, I would have looked at them and said, ‘Sorry? You might want to change your medication, because I don’t know what you’re talking about’,” Arena said. After a 15-month enforced break from the stage, Arena will soon begin a run of shows that is perhaps the biggest national tour of indoor venues since the pandemic began.
Starting Sunday night in Brisbane, Arena’s Enchante tour will visit six states and territories through to the final show in Canberra on May 30, with most of these venues now allowing 100 per cent crowd capacity due to the easing of public health restrictions.
Accompanied by her live band and a string quartet, she will work through her acclaimed pop songbook, which reaches back to her 1990 debut while performing alongside violinist and dancer Eric Avery.
As well, Arena’s run of shows is the first major Australian tour to be offering a VIP meet-and-greet package in the COVID era, where the star’s most ardent fans can pay a little extra for a socially distanced photograph with the performer.
“We’re not going to be hanging off one another,” she said with a laugh.
“The human connection in these live shows is everything.
“It’s one thing to digitally download something, but it’s totally emotionally disconnected [compared] to seeing somebody live. For me, that’s my home. That’s when I feel most at home: when I step out on stage.”
On Friday, Arena will release a powerful and empowering single, Church, which is her first new music. After last year severing ties with much of the music industry machinery to which she has been connected for more than 45 years, this single – the first of a planned string of songs this year – marks her first release as an independent artist.
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