March 28th 1992 was a pivotal day in the career of INXS. With the tragic 1991 murder of groundbreaking Doctor Victor Chang, the former Head of St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, the band spearheaded the Centennial Park gig with all profits going to the newly-setup charity.
With a huge local support artist list including Jenny Morris, Richard Clapton, Baby Animals and Crowded House, over 70,000+ fans turned up to cheer away in what was uniquely a non-alcoholic gig and fairly priced at $21/head.
Opening up with the never heard before “Heaven Sent”, the band unearthed 4 new tracks from the forthcoming Welcome to Wherever you Are album. Michael preening across stage in his magnificent white “Elvis-esque” jumpsuit, he had all of the fans in the palm of his hand.
Unfortunately, the concert is more remembered for backstage fighting amongst the “suits” with infamous stories leaked to a bloodthirsty press looking for titillation versus altruism.
The subsequent media backlash directed towards the band was felt for many years to follow and unfortunately sullied or drowned out all of the artistic merits of subsequent INXS releases.
Today, the true facts are told as we remove the spectre of gossip and gloss loss and celebrate the purity of what was “The Concert for LIFE”!
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