Iconic '80s Aussie Rock Band To Perform At High School In Brisbane

Iconic '80s Aussie rock band The Choirboys will play a one-off gig at a Brisbane high school next month. 

Playing at the St Peters Lutheran College Performing Arts Centre on 16 March, the outfit will go back to school as part of the college's Signature Series Music Concerts orchestrated by Kerry Jacobson, former drummer of Dragon, who teaches there.

"Five years ago we thought, 'Well let's try a big rock concert,' so we put Ian Moss in here, who's the guitar player from Cold Chisel, and it went so well we decided to brand it The Signature Series Concerts," Jacobson tells The Music.

"We decided to do a rock concert one term with me and then the next three terms we'd put on a big concert from maybe a jazz area - we've had James Morrison here and we've had other people to do with the choirs and other big artists to come and work with the strings.

"The year before we had Leo Sayer and they've just been going fantastically well. Every time we do them we sell them out and all the parents come and the kids and they just have a great time so we've kept on doing it."

Jacobson still performs regularly with a number of acts and considers himself "very fortunate" to be able to put these gigs on. 

"I fill in with a lot of these bands because I've been around for so long and we usually all perform at those Day On The Greens and things where they have Jimmy Barnes and The Angels and all the '80s bands so we all kind of know each other. So I usually just ring them up and say, 'I do this at this school, we have an amazing performing arts centre, can you do me a mates rate?'" he laughs. 

"They're all happy to do it and think it's a great opportunity so that's how it has come about. And that's how I'm able to do it so yeah, we're very fortunate. And of course having the facility we've got helps."

Working at St Peters for ten years now, Jacobson was originally employed to "start and develop a percussion program which the school didn't really have back then". He also runs a rock band program which results in the students becoming the support act for these events. 

"They get to play in front of a lot of people and it's all really about them," Jacobson shares. "Giving them that opportunity and also they get mentored the day before the concert by someone like Leo Sayer or in The Choirboys case Mark Gable, the lead singer. So he'll come and work with the rock bands or some of the singers or some of the guitarists and so you know it's a win-win situation for the students really and then they get to see these bands performing on a professional level so they kinda get an idea of where they might want to get to."

Tickets for The Choirboys gig are on sale now. Follow the link here for more details.