THE music of one of Australia’s greatest exports is set for the stage in Swan Hill, with The Australian INXS Show performing next month.
From 7:30pm, on August 11, at the Town Hall Performing Arts Centre, The Australian INXS show will delight INXS fans as part of their Australian tour.
Crowds will be treated to a two-hour show, full of INXS’ greatest hits, with all new, original videos adding to the immense audio-visual experience.
The role of singer Michael Hutchence is performed by lead singer Dellacoma Rio, who said he often hears how much like Hutchence he moves and looks on stage.
“I’m not trying to be Michael,” he said. “I’m trying to help them feel the same feelings that were felt when they watched him.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in doing that from all the times I’ve heard that I reminded them of Michael’s performance.
“It’s not something that I take lightly, it’s really special.”
Rio said that he is often reminded how important the music of INXS has been to the nation as he performs.
“I think for any band that got to the heights that INXS did, you have to imbed your music in the fabric of people’s day to day lives,” he said.
“That is very real when we play these songs and see people’s faces, and when we speak to people afterwards.
“I hear story upon story about how they got married to this song, or they had the first kiss to another song, or they remember going out in the 80s when they were still playing in clubs and pubs.
“Live performance is something that can be really special, you can actually watch the band unite on stage to create this piece of music that means so much to you.”
With the stop set to be Rio’s first visit to Swan Hill, he said the band were excited to get back to playing for rural crowds.
“I find that rural audiences aren’t as spoilt for choice as their metropolitan counterparts,” he said “So the crowds are often a bit more appreciative of what we do.
“Our experiences with rural towns have always been awesome.”
Rio said that the music of INXS was something he hadn’t given too much thought, until people started comparing his solo presence to Hutchence.
“I was a bit of a late starter to INXS,” he said. “I was still in high school when Michael Hutchence passed away and my parents weren’t really into them.
“They were kind of a band that I knew of but didn’t know a lot about. Once I got into entertainment in my 20s, people would always tell me that I looked and moved like Michael when I was on stage.
“I had an image of INXS in my mind that was based on their later years, so it wasn’t until I started to delve a bit deeper when I started to really understand what people meant.
“It took hearing all these stories from people across the US and other countries to really see how deeply they had impacted the entire world from here in Australia.
“There was a time where they were the biggest band in the world.”
