Rolf Harris on stage

Press, 19 July 1983, Page 8

Rolf Harris on stage

Rolf Harris at the Town Hall Auditorium, July 18, 8 p.m. Reviewed by Philip Norman. . > Propping up the bar at the Town Hall Auditorium last, evening were two old Australians. One leaned across to the other and was heard to say: “Well sport, d’you wanna know why Rolf has’nt been to New Zealand for Id years? He’s been busy learnin’ the words for a new song.” Ali jibing aside, that statement rather sums up the : material Rolf Harris presented last evening. Jokes mainly about national characteristics and peculiarities of accents punctuated by stop-go renditions of ' 9, To-the familiar repertoire of ‘Tle Me Kangaroo Down Wt" “Jake the -was>-

added a relatively new song entitled “Smoky Jo from Tokyo.” This was a rather uncharacteristically raunchy number, combining a Japanese children’s chant for learning telephone expressions (based on “London Bridge”) with the story of a rather questionable Oriental woman. , What sets Rolf Harris apart from the usual “tell a story, sing a song” entertainers is his ability to paint and his mastery of the didgeridoo. One of the nicest moments of the evening came when he linked these two abilities. After he had painted a striking Australian outback scene he captured the mood of the picture in a savoured instrumental number featuring the Aboriginal instrument ‘ Apart from a moment like this, and the odd oneliner with a decent punch, - Rolf Harris* performance

was at best tepid. The zing and zip in his presentation that characterised his performances of yester-year have slackened. There is not the same sparkle.

Rolf Harris enjoys a special rapport with his' musical director, Barry Booth. At first it was charming to hear the interchanges between the two, discussing what should be performed next After frequent repetitions of this it started to sound like an old husband and wife team haggling over the relative merits of various well-used anecdotes. Rolf Harris was accompanied by a sprightly fivepiece band. In the few songs that were not interrupted with the interjection of some lengthy red herring the band put out a nice tight In w it was a disappointing show. •