“Archie aren’t you tired of singing this song? Hey not really because every time I sing it a little more of the pain is taken away.”
Archie Roach has this incredibly generous and powerful gift. Some survivors have that, sometimes.
Of describing the pain and the joy, the grief and the loss, the hope, the healing and the beauty of life, touching your heart all along the way.
Of unveiling the universal while recounting his own experiences and quite incredibly allowing you to meet him there.
It feels like a rare privilege.
He talks Ruby, and Ruby very soon becomes more. She becomes the past love every person in the room ever had, whose absence comforts and pains all at once.
“It’s not just about you, Archie Roach”, she told him, and those words convinced him to record his first album.
I cried. I laughed. I cried again.
We all did.
Nine songs. Many stories. Two sets. A sold out theatre. A long and grateful standing ovation.
I cried again when I left. There were so many red eyes.
Set 1
Charcoal lane
Took the children away
Tell me why
Open up your eyes
Set 2
Down city streets
Nopun Kurongk
The old days
I will always be there
The summer of my life