James Reyne to play at the Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton

Australian music royalty James Reyne will bring his band and hits to Rockhampton in concert soon.

James Reyne will play at the Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton on June 14. Photo: Kane Hibberd

He’s the man behind some of the biggest songs in Australian music and he’s bringing his hits and his eight-piece band back to the Beef Capital.

Australian music icon James Reyne will hit the stage at the Great Western Hotel on June 14 as part of the Crawl File tour, celebrating the 40th anniversary of his band Australian Crawl.

It’s not the first time Reyne has played in Rockhampton, have brought his shows to the Beef Capital in previous years.

Speaking to this publication, Reyne said playing for the Rockhampton crowd was “special”.

He said during his last visit to Rockhampton he played at the Pilbeam Theatre, and said while theatre crowds were always “enthusiastic” there was a difference when playing for a pub crowd.

“Playing pubs is a completely different atmosphere,” he said.

“At pubs you have the bars and people are excited, they feed off their own energy and band feeds off the crowds and the crowd feeds off the band.

“When you’re standing in a pub watching a band play, I think that energy is more immediate.”

Reyne said it was “great” to still be playing the hits, such as ‘Beautiful People’ and ‘The Boys Light Up’, 40 years on.

James Reyne will play at the Great Western Hotel on June 14.

“It feels great, we do it all the time, we’ve done for years and years and we enjoy it more now, we’re much better musicians and a better band,” he said.

“We’re all grown up and friends and have been working together quite a while. There’s no tiffs we look after ourselves, it’s just a better way to tour.”

Reyne said it was important to bring music to regional areas such as Rockhampton.

“It’s very important, it’s good to go everywhere, but you're travelling with a lot of people so you also have to look at the economics of it,” he said.

“Australia is a big country so you have to be able to get everyone there, your band, production crew because sometimes you’re playing a the night before and the night after.”

Having more than four decades of experience in the music industry and selling more than a million albums, Reyne shared his advice to young musicians wanting to give the entertainment industry a crack.

“Just stick at it and persevere,” he said.

“When you’re young and keen get out of Australia, not because Australia is bad, Australia is a lovely country but it’s geographically huge.

“The population scope is much greater (overseas) so go out and see the world and make a go at it, persevere and keep practising.

“It’s not an easy business to be in, doors close more than they open, a lot of the time you have to be incredibly self reliant and make your own opportunities.”

James Reyne will perform at the Great Western Hotel on June 14.

Tickets are available on his website.

Originally published as James Reyne to play at the Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton