Dakota East Heads West
“When you’re in need
just call on me
I’ll be your strength
anytime you’re weak
you’ll be just alright
just wait and see
I'll be tour shelter
just call on me.”
Call On Me - Dakota East.
The moon was high in the summer sky as I headed west to the famed Corner Hotel in Richmond for this double billing of Canadian born belle Dakota East who now calls Melbourne home and Mississippi minstrel and frequent tourist Randy Houser who described himself as “part Aussie.”
As I decamped from a tram I walked past the far queue where two buxom brunettes shouted Go Cats to this life-long Geelong supporter.
There was no way I could be an undercover concert reviewer as I found my way to the right of stage mosh pit.
The pre-concert soundtrack was popular country rock classics as I leaned on a guardrail as a bearded bon-vivant and his bucolic belle stroked my beard.
My lead stroker was a Maffra truckie who explained his road trips were shorter now because of his arthritis.
I shared similar arthritic angst as I found my pen to record this marathon suburban show with one hour sets by each artist.
Canadian born latter day Melbourne singer-songwriter Dakota East kicked the dew off the glass as she opened the show.
“This is my song,” Dakota announced as she previewed her entrée Call On Me from her debut album.
“It’s great to see you all here tonight in Melbourne.”
The 2024 Tamworth Star Maker finalist, who grew up in a log cabin on a small island in the middle of a lake in Ontario Canada, added “I came here to chase my country music dreams.”
Backed by a guitarist who added mandolin to his craft Dakota performed her 2021 indie debut hit Runaway, Feel It, Autumn Blue as the enthusiastic audience sang along.
She triumphed with her latest Top 10 single Moving On – her triumphant tale about recovering from a ruptured romance.
Dakota, who lives and performs in her adoptive hometown Melbourne, describes her music as coastal country and followed her Sleep Like A Baby with a selfie with fanatical fans in the mosh pit.
It was a spirited entrée as she promoted concert headliner Randy Houser who was soon to follow.
“Are you ready for Randy?” she questioned her appreciative audience who responded with gusto.
Randy Houser Still That Cowboy
“Still that cowboy that stole your heart
still that right one you chose from the start
and when the nights get long and the years roll by
when you wake up and you look at me
I hope I'm still that cowboy that rode up in your dreams.”
Still That Cowboy - Josh Hoge-Matthew Joseph Rogers-Randy Houser.
Mississippi minstrel Randy Houser didn’t need a back-up band on his return to Melbourne after touring here in 2023 with Georgian Kip Moore, now 44.
His loud acoustic bluesy country rock had a surprise support act – his eldest son Huckleberry who sprinted on stage and lifted the tempo while lowering the demographic.
“I’m five years old and I’m here to sing,” Huckleberry howled as he grabbed a mike on the front of the left side of the stage.
It was a dynamic debut for the blonde-haired boy whose dad kicked off the set with first Top 10 hit Boots On and Goodnight Kiss.
“I came here for Christmas with my wife and sons,” Houser, 49, announced as his Sydney born wife Tatiana Starzynski, 31, and their younger son Harlan, aged just 2, watched from the wings.
“I feel like I’m part Aussie after all my visits. It feels like Mississippi where I come from. Holy hell, what a great night. I’m sweaty already. Y’all have a good time tonight.”
Randy didn’t need to ask his capacity crowd to sing along as he resurrected Whistling Dixie and How Country Feels as he swapped his guitars between some songs.
He reached back in his career for his 2008 debut album title track Anything Goes that he revealed was his radio birth that landed him on the David Letterman TV show.
Randy hit top gear for They Call Me Cadillac – title track of his 2010 second album that also included Whistling Dixie and Somewhere South of Memphis
The singing actor introduced Somewhere South Of Memphis by comparing it with the deep south of Australia.
“I once dreamed of playing the Sydney Opera House. That dream came true on New Year’s Eve when I performed the Brooks & Dunn song Neon Moon on ABC-TV“.
Equally accessible was his Still That Cowboy which he originally recorded with Texan Miranda Lambert.
The audience sang even louder when he urged them to light their phones for military personnel and first responders as he introduced Like A Cowboy.
There was more applause for his sixth album title track Note To Self.
Randy announced he was not going to head backstage with a promise of an encore.
Instead, he stayed on stage and performed his finale Running Outta Moonlight and followed it with showers of plectrums into the moist mosh pit and way beyond.
Randy, son of a Lake City musician, was living his dreams down under.
It was a grand exit for the singer who appeared on movie and TV screens in Killers of the Flower Moon starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and more and The Hill with Dennis Quaid.
Images supplied by Frontier Tours, promoter on the concert.
Review by David Dawson
