BRISBANE The Fortitude Thursday November 12
ADELAIDE Thebarton Theatre Friday November 13
SYDNEY Enmore Theatre Friday November 20
MELBOURNE Palais Theatre Saturday November 21
Tickets on sale 9am Friday, February 21 http://davidroywilliams.com/tours/zoot/
ZOOT, one of Australia’s most-loved bands of the late ’60s, early ’70s, is re-forming for four shows only. And the band – featuring Beeb Birtles, Rick Springfield and Rick Brewer – will be joined by their close friend and contemporary Russell Morris.
Tickets for the four capital city November tour go on sale Friday, February 21 at 9:00 am.
The tour – ZOOT‘s first Australian shows in nearly 50 years – is dedicated to the band’s lead singer, Darryl Cotton, who died of liver cancer in 2012.
“This whole tour is about honouring Darryl Cotton and his band ZOOT,” Rick Springfield says. “Darryl also had a band with Russell Morris, Jim Keays and Ronnie Burns for 16 years, so it’s great to have Russell celebrating Darryl by joining ZOOT.”
Russell says the tour will be a “labour of love”.
“I am not trying to be Darryl,” Russell points out. “But as I worked with Darryl for so long, he is a part of me. And I know how much he cared about ZOOT, so I will give it my very best.”
The reunion celebrates the 50th anniversary of ZOOT‘s debut album, Just Zoot, and follows the release of the ZOOT anthology, Archaeology.
“Who would have thought we’d still be performing ZOOT songs 50 years after the release of Just Zoot,” smiles Beeb, who started ZOOT in Adelaide with Darryl Cotton. “Nevertheless, here we are with ZOOT in 2020!”
Aside from 2007’s Countdown Spectacular, this will be Rick Springfield‘s first Australian appearances since 1971.
Often referred to as “a supergroup in reverse” – after the band broke up in 1971, Beeb Birtles was a founding member of Little River Band, Rick Springfield became a solo star in the US, and Rick Brewer joined The Ferrets – ZOOT was crowned Australia’s Best Group in Go-Set in 1969 and had a string of hits, including ‘One Times, Two Times, Three Times, Four’, ‘Monty and Me’, ‘The Freak’, and their blistering cover of The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’.
With such an array of stars on stage, expect some surprises in the set list, alongside the ZOOT hits.
The ZOOT band will also feature a special guest – LRB founding member Roger McLachlan on bass.
“I think ZOOT 2020 will be truly extraordinary,” Rick Brewer says. “We made history together and individually, and we are going to make history again in 2020.”
