Review of Colin Hay’s performance in Eugene, Oregon

Colin Hay began wrapping up his current North American tour by rolling into Eugene, Oregon on the 21st of May for an intimate performance and some light comedy at the Vet’s Club.

The audience was attracted to the show, primarily from his “Money Song” days with Men @ Work. 200 people showed up for the sold out performance, some flying up from San Francisco.

The first 20 minutes of the show consisted of a chat between Colin and the audience. Most expected an Aussie drawl but were pleasantly surprised with his thick Scottish accent and sense of humor. He had the audience rolling in the aisles with comments such as:

“This town’s gotta a lot of history…and I don’t know any of it”

“There are a lot of disasters these day…and when one happens, I feel real bad…real bad that I didn’t have sex last night”

and

“I toured with the guys from “Men @ Work” in ‘96…it was rough…the audience remembered the words to the songs better than I did.”

After 20 minutes of laughs, he kicked off with the title track to his latest album Transcendental Highway. Definitely a more mature version of Hay than his earlier sing-a-long days with Men @ Work. It appears as if lot more feeling went into these lyrics.

He quickly launched into his “Money” songs: “Down Under” and “Overkill”. The familiarity with these songs were apparent as the crowd, already into it’s 3rd of 4th round of drinks, began singing along to those oh so familiar lyrics. The crowd were eager for more, chanting “Be Good, Be Good, Be Good, Be Good….”. Colin was not to be persuaded, however and after a confusing conversation with an attention seeking female member of the audience, he continued on with his own song list.

The last 20 minutes consisted of cracking jokes about various performances from life on the road around the world and a few more of his cuts from his newest album. He left the stage to a standing ovation and the crowd yelling for more.

General Info Section

Quirky Facts

Downtown Eugene is centered around the little hill called Skinner’s butte. Principal Skinner from “The Simpson’s” was named after this inconspicuous mound.

Geography

Eugene, Oregon is located in the Central Willamette Valley. It is 8 hours drive north of San Francisco by I-5 and 5 hours south of Seattle by the same road.

Accommodation

There is a youth hostel on 2352 Willamette street. Rates are $12 a night or $85 per week. (541.349.0589).

There are many middle of the road motels that can be kinda dirty, but are cheap in the $20-$40 per night range.

Hilton Hotel has a massive structure for the spenders.

There is a cute little Bed & Breakfast in downtown Eugene called the Oval Door Bed & Breakfast.

Transport

Eugene is one of the main stops on the road between Seattle and San Francisco. All buses and trains stop here.

Lane Transit Department (LTD) has an extensive bus sytem throught the Eugene/Springfield area. Rides cost a $1 US or if you buy a pack of tokens, 75 cents each.

Money

US currency. A minimum budget for Eugene would be around 0 dollars per day if you slept outside and begged for food. If you want a roof over your head and cook for yourself at the hostel, $20 per day would be reasonable.

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