The Purple Hearts Reunion

The Troubadour & The Waterloo Hotel - June 3 & 4, 2006

All the photos are from the second show at The Waterloo Hotel.
 

Review by Lori Lee

On the opening night, the room at The Troubadour filled to capacity within 20 minutes of opening (!), as original fans from the 1960s and their younger contemporaries turned out for a night that will go down in Australian music history. All-girl trio, The Fondelles, opened the show with a great set of garage rock that made many feet start tapping and hips start shaking very early in the night. Rumour has it that the shows they played this weekend were their last, but I don’t think the audience will let them break up just yet. They’re just too much fun. Sporting his trademark purple satin cape, Screamin’ Stevie and his new band The Credit Union moved the party up a notch with an authentic set of 1960s soul-punk. The crowd was not budging from their prime positions, except when the Credit Union’s guitarist charged out into the middle of the audience for a number of extended guitar solos. Great stuff folks.

Within what seemed like the blink of an eye, The Purple Hearts were on stage and ready to rock. After receiving the ‘I’m ready’ nod from guitarist Lobby Loyde, front man Mick Hadley took the reigns and shook the room with a killer set of rock’n’roll, straight out of 1966. Opening with Who Do You Love, they were just warming up for only their third get together in 38 years. They wasted no time in getting into their classic hits such as Long Legged Baby (killer!), Of Hopes and Dreams and Tombstones (unbelievable!), Just a Little Bit (howling!), plus other r’n’b hits of the era, such as Gloria, which were regulars in their sets from the sixties. The crowd just went nuts. The girls beside me squealed with delight, including the dynamic Judy Jetson, host of the garage show on radio 4ZZZ and Australia’s keenest 60s fan, who had the honour of go-go dancing on stage at both shows.

The show at The Waterloo Hotel the on the Sunday drew a huge crowd again. It was great to see so many locals supporting the original Brisbane band, as well as other fans who had flown or driven from Melbourne and Adelaide to witness this memorable event.

Rockabilly fans should count themselves lucky that we have all the bands here in Australia and we can go see rockabilly shows every month if not more, where we can dance and get into the scene as if it was 1957. Take a moment to think of fans from the 1960s – when do they get to see authentic garage rock shows – where they could shut their eyes and be transported back to 1966? This weekend was one of those times and I understand even more now, why everyone was so excited.  

Thanks to everyone that helped out for The Purple Hearts reunion weekend including Acoustic Technologies, Vase amplifiers, Pete Walker, Judy Jetson, Brisbane Extra, Time Off, The Courier Mail, The Fondelles, Screamin’ Stevie & The Credit Union, The Chrome Daddies, The Troubadour, The Waterloo and the many, many true fans across the country. Thank you.
 

Photos by Pix by Pete

The Purple Hearts:

The Chrome Daddies:

The Fondelles:

The audience: