GOANNA & COLOURED STONE 1986 - THE INDEPENDENCE TOUR

We’d been crippled by debt so we let all the middle men go and Rose and Marce and I gathered a band of musicians together for one more tour after Oceania.

This time, we joined forces with my old friend Bart Willoughby, who was taking a break from No Fixed Address and drumming for Buna Lawrie and Coloured Stone at the time. Bart and Buna were relations of course. There was a great energy and wild dancing music ensued. Selwyn Burns was on fire on lead guitar for Coloured Stone and Simon Curphy was equally blistering and soulful for Goanna.

John Sinclair put an extensive tour of Australia together and away we went. We were surprised that the tour was so well received and enjoyable and we filled houses everywhere we went. When we finished the tour in Tasmania we split the profits equally between both bands and discussed making a third Goanna album, but Rose and Marce were keen to move on with their solo careers. 

We did two last shows together. The first was the West Tamworth Leagues Club, organised by Syd and John West. The show was billed as Goanna at Midnight and we were a little anxious at how a show at that time of night, during the Tamworth Country Music Festival would work. 

Before our show was a Melbourne super group with some big names and some heavy hitters in the industry. We were crest fallen when we got to the gig and only a few hundred people had turned up to see the super group. We were sure we were going to die a financial death after them and not have enough to cover the fuel expenses home, let alone pay band and crew wages. 

The crew began setting our gear up after the super group and what started as a trickle turned into a torrent as hundreds and hundreds of people poured into the venue to see us play. In the end the venue was stacked with nearly 2700 people and I believe we might still hold the record for attendance in that venue. It was a triumphant night and both bands rose to the occasion with compelling performances. We got enough for the fuel home.

The final concert was the Concert For Peace, organised by the B'ahai community at Geelong's Performing Arts Centre. It was a sold out, triumphant return for the band to our old stomping ground and where we had begun our journey. On the 2003 CD re-issue of Spirit of Place, there's a live version of Solid Rock. It's pretty otherworldly and one of the most powerful recorded live versions of the song. It was recorded in Geelong that night.

 

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