Aussie favourites The Whitlams have announced a very special show set for later this year.
The Sydney-formed group have locked in a one-off performance with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall on Saturday, September 6th. The band, who were the first local indie act to perform with Australian orchestras back in 2004, will be joined on stage by two string arrangements, and conductor Nicholas Buc.
Fans can expect to see classic compositions off The Whitlams’ hits like “Blow Up the Pokies”, as well as cuts from their most recent albums, 2024’s Kookaburra and 2022’s Sancho.
“Once every seven years we get to perform in the middle of the beautiful storm of an 80-piece orchestra. This time it’s with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia’s best sounding room, Hamer Hall,” frontman Tim Freedman said.
“I’m counting down the days to what will be a really memorable evening.”
Freedman recently spoke with Tone Deaf about Kookaburra, which saw The Whitlams take on country music.
“It sounds like a drive through country hills, with my elbow in the breeze and the earth waking up after the rain,” Freedman said. “Starting with Rod’s banjo, it sets my mind next to a campfire. It’s my transcendent moment in nature.”
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A number of Whitlams songs are revisited and reimagined on the album, including a cooly stripped back version of 1998’s ARIA Song of the Year and triple j Hottest #100 topper, “No Aphrodisiac”.
“I enjoy singing old Whitlams tunes a bit lower now,” Freedman says. “This is three minutes of sitting next to a banjo player, singing that Whitlams song that everyone knows. I like the restraint of this recording, and Matt’s production really jumps out of the radio.”
Pre-sale kicks off at 11am on Tuesday, April 15th, before general public tickets go on sale from midday on Thursday, April 17th. For more details, click here.
