Tamborine Mountain and Gold Coast, I’m coming up to play for my friends at Cauldron Distillery on Sat 30 May, with a four-piece hybrid of The Whitlams and my Black Stump project, featuring Jak Housden on guitar. You’ll hear all the Whitlams’ classics.
It should be a great afternoon - we are onstage at 4pm and The Inadequates open at 2.30pm, Hope to see you there, Tim
1 Conferring with our conductor about which string player to execute. Ms Winley is a softy, and they all lived. 2 Pilgrimage to Clifton Pugh’s 1972 Archibald winner. 3 Gough’s eye for a good investment. 2nd Canberra Symphony Orchestra show tonight…
Exciting announcement everyone. The Whitlams are heading to the Maldives for three very special, intimate, sunset shows on the beach next May 1 - 8, 2027....
Secure your spot now here.
.au/event/the-whitlams-live-in-the-maldives/
This gig has been on our wish list for years, and at last we’re doing it!
Get surfing tips from drummer Terepai, get how not-to-surf tips from me - either way what a week it will be.
Numbers are strictly capped at 250, so for a genuine once-in-a-lifetime experience come and help us create a private party in the Maldives you will never forget. The set lists for the shows will change every sunset...
The resort, the accommodation, the diving, the surf, the restaurants, pools, bars and day spas are all excellent, and they have a kids club - MERCY BE MOTHERS AND FATHERS.
Come and join us in the tropics, it’s going to be a wonderful week.
The Coliseum in Rooty Hill last weekend was a blast. Canberra this weekend, Toowoomba, and Perth in June - just three cities to go on Orchestral ‘26. #greatsouthernnights
Last night at the Coliseum. Our crew said it was the best PA in the country, and thank you Western Sydney for coming out. Here is a bit of “No Aphrodisiac,” “Pokies,” Veronique Serret making Sculthorpe’s intermezzo for”Out the Back” sing, and the final bow with conductor Vanessa Scammel.
Next weekend we are with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.
Here is some Burt Bacharach for your Friday night from “Recovery” in 1998.
Meanwhile, the lads are flying in from around the country this afternoon for The Coliseum show in Rooty Hill tomorrow night with the Sydney Philharmonic...
Here is a 3/5ths through the tour update, with some details on how it all comes together. This is an edited transcript, full Hi Fi Way interview at their site.
“How exciting is this tour coming, equally challenging and ambitious in a lot of ways?
I’d say it’s the biggest orchestral tour an Australian band’s ever embarked upon. So, very ambitious.
How have those shows gone so far?
It’s been a joy. We’ve played with probably one hundred and ninety musicians so far. I find that a larger percentage of the orchestras are younger than us now, whereas it used to be, we felt very ginger with these eminent, august, orchestral musicians.
Do you feel the pressure playing with such elite players?
There is a lot of pressure on the day, because we rehearse a two-and-a-quarter-hour show in three hours. So, as you can imagine, their sight reading is mind‑bogglingly good.
So there’s not, like, a week of rehearsals, it’s literally on the day?
I just need to get together with the conductor, and say for example: “this one starts at around 66, but we like to slow it down in the second chorus”, and the conductor’s the person that I need to communicate with, because he or she then communicates with the musicians. So it’s a beautiful, fluid, organic, breathing thing that happens.
With all that in mind, do you feel the stress leading up to the show? When you’ve got that many moving parts, that must heighten the anxiety levels quite a bit.
No, I don’t get anxious in showbiz anymore. I get excited.
Is it hard for people who don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes. Is it hard to narrow down that list of songs you’re going to go with?
I went to the Sydney Opera House concert hall and watched Sigur Rós with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra late last year. I love the way that they held my attention with extremely atmospheric and slow‑moving music. That inspired me to be a little bit ambitious with this show.
How do you top a tour like this? Once the last of the shows are finished, what do you do next?
We do a pub run.
Adelaide, Sydney (The Coliseum), Canberra, Toowoomba, and Perth to come.
Interview by Rob Lyon.
Photos - The Whitlams with the MSO - Damian Bennett
Sir Les Patterson’s first job was Entertainment Manager at Rooty Hill RSL. It is now inexplicably called Wests HQ.
The Whitlams and the Sydney Philharmonic play the Coliseum Theatre in Rooty Hill RSL on Sat 2 May.
I visited the venue yesterday to ensure everything was up to scratch. It’s gorgeous. “Buy 3 Get 4 tix”, and “VIP with Soundcheck and Meet and Greet” available too. Tickets selling fast. See link in bio. Get into it, Tim
Community orchestras really put in the hours. The Toowoomba Concert Orchestra has been rehearsing since January for our June 6 collaboration, before we join them at the Empire in a few months.
Professional state orchestras also put in the hours - three to be exact. On the afternoon of the first show in each city we meet on stage, and they sight-read the shit out of it.
Still to come: the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonic at The Coliseum, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
