YUSUF/CAT STEVENS
18 JUNE 2010
ROD LAVER ARENA, MELBOURNE
By Clive Simmons
It is rare that any artist receives a standing ovation before they sing a note, but a capacity crowd (at least one third of them under 25) did just that when Yusuf, formerly known as Cat Stevens, stepped onto a Melbourne stage for the first time in 36 years.
In the 125-minute set that followed, Yusuf ripped through 30 songs, resurrecting music from the very beginning of his career to his most recent albums – omitting eight or nine albums along the way and showcased twenty minutes of a new musical, Moonshadow, on which he has been working.
Starting off with ‘Lillywhite’ (from the Mona Bone Jakon album) and ‘Where Do The Children Play’, which met with sustained applause and yet another ovation, Yusuf launched into a medley of his early hits, before settling the crowd into a shortened version of his new musical.
The musical has a complex storyline, but in short, is about a boy from Polygor who falls in love with a girl under an apple tree, an affair met with resistance from his father, whereupon he leaves the family home in search of a moonshadow.
This rather clever device allowed Yusuf to troll through his extensive repertoire, singing songs from his more recent albums, An Other Cup and Roadsinger, blending selections from these albums with earlier songs such as ‘Matthew and Son’, ‘Schoolyard’, and ‘Miles From Nowhere’, although two songs from the musical, (‘Father and Son’ and ‘Moonshadow’) were omitted. “I’ll think we’ll leave those until a bit later” he quipped, but only after hearing screams of recognition from the 15,000-strong crowd.
With that, he pumped up the volume with ‘Bad Brakes’ and ‘Sitting’, before launching into the “golden oldies” section, with ‘Morning Has Broken’ – which again, brought the crowd to its feet – ‘Wild World’, and the finale, ‘Father and Son’, all of which had the crowd singing along.
Yusuf stuck to rock ’n’ roll tradition with a tenaciously-fought for encore set, comprising ‘Moonshadow’, ‘Rubylove’, and an energetic version of ‘Tuesday’s Dead’, which had the crowd dancing in the aisles.
Pandemonium reigned when he walked off for a second time, the audience alternately screaming, stamping its feet, and with one woman behind me openly crying, before Yusuf emerged once more to make a plea for peace in the world, the prelude to ‘Peace Train’, which again had the audience singing and swaying like it was revival night.
Perhaps it was. Only after he walked off did we recount several hits he hadn’t done: ‘Lady D’Arbanville’, ‘Can’t Keep It In’, ‘Another Saturday Night’, ‘Oh Very Young’, (though he did sing this on the New Zealand leg) and ‘The Hurt’.
For those who could not afford tickets, or were unable to attend – given that the entire tour sold out in minutes of going on sale – the shows in Australia and New Zealand were recorded according to his website, and a DVD release is expected to follow.
Setlist: Lillywhite/The Wind/Midday/Children Play/Medley: I Love My Dog-Here Comes My Baby-First Cut is the Deepest/Fill My Eyes/Boots and Sand/Moonshadow Section: Shamsia-Miles From Nowhere-World of Darkness-Maybe There’s a World-Matthew and Son-But I Might Die Tonight-Schoolyard-In the End-On the Road to Find Out/Roadsinger/Don’t Be Shy/Bad Brakes/Sitting/Morning Has Broken/Wild World/Father and Son/Walk-off/Moonshadow/Rubylove/Ruins/Tuesday’s Dead/(Encore) Peace Train.