SteamPacket, Tarrangower Times
It all started at the mesmerising Russell Morris concert the week before Christmas under the full moon at the Maldon Golf Club.
As the crowd was leaving the talk was all about, ‘This is the best show you have ever done.’ ‘The best SteamPacket ever.’ ‘How good was Russell?’ ‘When will you have him back?’
And then a voice piped up, ‘What about Normie Rowe, at Maldon station? That was a show to remember.’ And it was. An all-electric band of super-players and the golden voice.
The discussion about which was the better show didn’t stop for two weeks until Clif had had enough and rang the man. Within a few minutes, Normie had eagerly booked himself for the same stage as Russell had played at the Golf Club, for Saturday, March 12.
So it’s time to find out. ‘Which was the better show?’
But they’re both different men with different back-stories. And Normie’s back-story is one of overcoming the bitterness of being set up by the Australian government in 1968, plucked from being King of Pop to being drafted into the Army and thrown straight into battle in Vietnam. All to bolster a failing government.
That political move killed his pop career dead. He responded by throwing himself into musical theatre, film and television. He built an enviable reputation on the club circuit. His voice was always too good for pop music. Like in his big hit, ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So,’ from the opera, ‘Porgy and Bess’.
It’s a golden voice. A high tenor. And it comes with the rich overtones of a life lived hard and full. He’s as much ‘The Real Thing’ as is Russell Morris.
Tickets $40 at SteamPacket, 26 High Street or www.steampacket.com.au with 20 tickets at The Shop to be upgraded to the Priority area at the front of the stage.
This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 18 February 2022.
