Alan Fletcher Band: great warmth, great music & memories of Neighours
Neighbours star Alan Fletcher is in Kinross tonight for a night of glorious Americana music.
There can’t be another long-running soap which has produced so many great singers.
Ramsay Street didn’t just give us Neighbours, it helped to launch the musical careers of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan.
To that list you can add Holly Valance, Delta Goodrem, Natalie Imbruglia and Craig McLachlan, and one more - Alan Fletcher. Imagine if they teamed up to form the ultimate soap supergroup...
The actor who played Dr Karl Kennedy arguably has had the the longest career in music. He was the front man with rock band Waiting Room, which has a 12-year residency in Melbourne, and also toured to the UK, and since then he has forged his own path in the world of folk/Americana.
He is currently on the road on a 40-date tour which called into Edinburgh on Tuesday with gigs in Kinross, Motherwell, Hawick and Inverness also on his itinerary.
He was at the door of the Voodoo Rooms to welcome everyone in, manned the merch stall at half time and happily posed for photos with a fanbase that clearly includes a core of Neighbours diehards.
His three decades in the show are neatly summed up in a re-working of Smokie’s Living Next Door To Alice, and he’s more than happy to chat about his links to the global hit.
Other than a John Prine cover - Spanish Pipedream - the set consists of self penned numbers which are whimsical and light, and rooted in the genre where story telling is to the fore.
He shares the spotlight with his wife Jen who forms part of his band, and guitarist Riley Catherall who gets his own showcase, and the whole night feels as relaxed as a gig can possible get; good music, easy humour and rich vocals.
The is also depth to the lyrics, none more so than on First To Go which reflects on mortality and absence, before he returns to the sunny side with a celebration of the joys of lager!
Not many gigs offer you the chance to chat and meet the star - one fan gave him a cheerio hug as he stood watching from the side of the stage. This is one of them. Now, about that Ramsay Street supergroup…
> Alan Fletcher is at Backstage At The Green Hotel, Kinross on Wednesday (October 21), Upstairs, Inverness (22nd), The Tunnels, Aberdeen (23rd), South Dalziel Historic Building, Motherwell (24th), Heart of Hawick (28th).
Ticket info HERE