Live Review: Archie Roach

Indigenous artist Archie Roach has been through a lot. He was fostered out to several homes before a stint living on the streets and a period of alcoholism. Roach could have been a statistic but he defied the odds and began telling his story through music – his way of rising above the setbacks life had dealt him. His most recent album Into The Bloodstream tells of his life journey – moving from suffering to overcoming – and provided most of the material for his concert (also titled Into The Bloodstream) at the Chevron Festival Gardens.

Seated centre-stage and surrounded by a thirteen-piece ensemble and a ten-person choir, Roach looked stately. Many of his songs were preceded by a word of wisdom or an anecdote, and one felt that Roach was genuinely sharing himself with the audience, giving more than just a performance. The song Mulyawongk was especially moving, as Roach explained that it was about his late wife Ruby Hunter, who was a river woman. In her dreaming, Hunter was a pelican. When she passed, the Mulyawongk (the river guardian spirit) called her back to the Milky Way (or the Big River). It was beautiful, sad, and elegant.

The strong gospel/soul flavor of the instrumentation underscored the sincerity and depth of belief inherent in Roach's lyrics and performance, and yet also lent a light-hearted sense of joy. Singing “Everybody put on your dancing shoes!” while the rambunctious choir twisted and got out their jive hands, Roach beamed at the audience, seeming thoroughly delighted at the chaos taking place on stage. Roach also took every opportunity to sing the praises of his impressive guest singers, and here special mention must be made of actor and musician Jack Charles. All white hair and conviction, Charles joined Roach for the duet We Won't Cry in the absence of Paul Kelly, who is featured on the album version. 

The evening came to a memorable close with Top of The Hill; a swelling, soaring allegory for the struggle and the triumph of living. The rapt audience stood to applause, waiting for the encore. But there was none – Roach made his way to the microphone and said apologetically that they could not perform any more songs as he had already given the audience everything he had prepared. “I've already given you everything”, he said. And he really had.