Colin Hay Setlist

Who Can It Be Now?¹
Into the Cornfields
Come Tumblin’ Down
Wayfaring Sons²
Looking for Jack
Beautiful World
Gathering Mercury
Goodnight Romeo
I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You
Frozen Fields of Snow
Driving With the Brakes On (Del Amitri cover)
Next Year People
Waiting for My Real Life to Begin
— Encore —
Overkill¹
Down Under¹
¹ Men at Work song
² Colin Hay Band song

Tour Dates

Oct 30 / Minneapolis, Mn @ Pantages Theatre
Oct 31 / Milwaukee, Wi @ The Pabst Theater
Nov 1 / Evanston, Il @ Cahn Auditorium
Nov 2 / Columbus, Oh @ Southern Theatre
Nov 4 / Munhall, Pa @ Carnegie Of Homestead Music Hall
Nov 6 / Medford, Ma @ Chevalier Theatre
Nov 7 / Tarrytown, Ny @ Tarrytown Music Hall
Nov 8 / Glenside, Pa @ Keswick Theatre
Nov 9 / Englewood, Nj @ Bergen Performing Arts Center
Nov 11 / Annapolis, Md @ St John’s College
Nov 12 / York, Pa @ Appell Center For The Performing Arts
Nov 13 / Alexandria, Va @ The Birchmere
Nov 14 / Alexandria, Va @ The Birchmere
Nov 17 / Whitley Bay, Uk @ Playhouse Whitley Bay
Nov 18 / Edinburgh, Uk @ The Queen’s Hall
Nov 19 / Glasgow, Uk @ Royal Concert Hall
Nov 22 / Manchester, Uk @ The Stoller Hall
Nov 23 / London, Uk @ Union Chapel
Dec 3 / Melbourne, Aus @ Melbourne Recital Centre
Dec 4 / Melbourne, Aus @ Melbourne Recital Centre
Dec 5 / Meredith, Aus @ 33rd Annual Meredith Music Festival
Dec 11 / Newtown, Aus @ Enmore Theatre

Nearing the end of Rocktober and just before Halloween, it was an evening with Colin Hay performing at the Pantages Theatre. Born in Scotland, Hay came to musical prominence in Australia as the lead singer of the 1980’s band Men At Work. After their initial break up, Hay has been a wildly prolific artist. Mainly living in Los Angeles, a US citizen since the mid-2010’s, Hay has over fifteen albums as a solo artist (including 2025’s Man @ Work Vol. 2), has been part of several Men At Work reunions and associated touring, and is a member of Ringo Starr & His All-Star Band. And that doesn’t even get into the television and movie appearances. Like I said, prolific.

Before Hay took to the stage though, DJ Jake Rudh was spinning tunes, albeit with no videos at Pantages. This is the third time in rapid succession that we’ve caught a Rudh session (last time at Miki Berenyi Trio), and it’s been fun to really pay attention to the idiosyncrasies of each of those sets and their relationship to the headlining artist. Spooky by Classics IV was clever for its timely title, but also for some similarity to Hay’s musical and vocal style. The set centered around that theme, with Aussie band Crowded House (Something So Strong) being another good selection. I’m guessing many in the audience didn’t fully grasp how Rudh was setting things up for Hay to capitalize, but I appreciated the artistry in the choices. Without the videos, it was also enjoyable to watch Rudh work his equipment to make the transitions and in-song adjustments. Sympathy for the Devil neatly concluded the set and Rudh had put together a perfect Halloween theme.

Hay strolled out solo with guitar(s) and had a long spoken and very humorous intro that set the tone for the evening. Noting the beauty of the venue, he told an old stage theater joke from his father before launching into the hit Who Can It Be Now? After the very excellent sounding Into the Cornfields, Hay told an extremely long and self-deprecating joke (the first of many) based on the title of his early 90’s album Peaks and Valleys, with a predictably hilarious punch line. Taught the chorus on Come Tumblin’ Down, the audience sing along allowed Hay to have a secondary harmony over the top. Wondering ahead of time why there was a coat rack on stage was put to rest as Hay shrugged out of his overcoat.

Hay was half comic routine and had the audience in stitches as he changed instruments. (Side note: I found it fascinating that Hay referred to “the old band” without generally naming Men At Work.) After a particularly rambling story (in the early going, he easily talked more than he played) he quipped, “thanks for letting me talk, I’ve spoken with nobody today”. The opening of Beautiful World got knowing cheers from the crowd, and that great lyric (“where a man can be free…or a woman if you are one”) put a smile on my face. Another switch of guitar, and a long tuning for the twelve strings came with the joke, “at least I’m not stoned, we’d never get out of here”. Goodnight Romeo was a tribute to his late father, and the flourish of the opening to the instrumental was pretty tremendous on that instrument and let Hay really show off his guitar skills.

Frozen Fields of Snow had another nice intro, though back on a six string acoustic. Next Year People, about the Dust Bowl era, was appropriately dark even with its upbeat sounding chorus. Waiting for My Real Life to Begin captured the essence of the evening and the crowd had one of its strongest reactions of the set. Not departing stage (“there’s nothing over there”), Hay rolled into the encore with Overkill which was perfectly translated from the band to the solo acoustic set up and roaring applause for the final verse as he went to the octave up. Colin Hay ended with a final set of jokes before finishing with Down Under, as it had to be.