''The Memphis Tour'' is a live

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

/ CD by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

singer

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter who was the winner of the first ''Australian Idol'' in 2003, judge on Australia's ''The X Factor'' from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2016, and coach ...

, released on 3 May 2008 through Sony BMG. The DVD features a live recording of one of Sebastian's concerts from his national tour of the same name. Sebastian's backing band during the tour included Steve Cropper, Donald 'Duck' Dunn and Steve Potts, members of American soul band the MGs who recorded ''

The Memphis Album ''The Memphis Album'' is a cover album of Memphis soul songs by Australian singer Guy Sebastian released in Australia by Sony Music on 10 November 2007.

'' with Sebastian in 2007. The DVD also includes a 20-minute documentary detailing the making of ''The Memphis Album''. The CD featuring live

audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound * Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum * Digital audio, representation of sou ...

from the same concert.Guy's New DVD 'The Memphis Tour' Out Saturday
Guy Sebastian official website. 29 April 2008. Archived fro
the original
on 21 January 2012.

Background

In 2007 Sebastian recorded a cover album of soul songs at Ardent Studios,

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

with Steve Cropper, Donald 'Duck' Dunn, and Steve Potts, (a.k.a. the MGs), with Lester Snell on keyboards. The MGs were the

Stax Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface ( API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community. Traditionally, XML APIs are either: * DOM based - the entire document is read i ...

band who played on many of the original versions of the songs Sebastian recorded on the album. Steve Cropper was also the co-writer of three of the songs, "

In the Midnight Hour "In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on his 1965 album of the same name, also appearing on the 1966 album ''The Exciting Wilson Pickett''. The song was composed by Pickett and Steve Crop ...

", " Knock on Wood" and " (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". Whilst recording ''The Memphis Album'', The Mgs and Snell agreed to come to Australia to be Sebastian's backing band on his 2008 national tour.

The Tour

''The Memphis Tour'' was held during February and March 2008. The tour began on 26 February with two concerts at The Bridge Hotel, Sydney, followed by sixteen further concerts in mainly theatre venues around Australia. After the first concert of the tour Sebastian spoke to Stuart Bocking from radio station

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the ...

about what it felt like to be on stage with the MGs, "There were so many moments when I just had to take a step back and think 'This is unbelievable'. Like the history that is behind me, and I'm singing these songs. You know they start playing Dock Of The Bay, and the guys that played it are on the stage. You know the guy who wrote the song with Otis Redding is playing guitar. The same with Midnight Hour and Knock on Wood. All these songs that I keep starting. These guys played on the original and wrote the songs, and were the sound that created them." During the interview Sebastian said he had just received a message from Dunn saying, "Thank you for inviting me on this tour. I'm having the time of my life and it's an honour to play with you." On his return to the US Cropper spoke to online Memphis radio station AllMemphisMusic about the tour, "There was a little apprehension about us going down to play behind him, because the people who were fans were there to see Guy. Well they were there to see some of the old Memphis guys as well. And that comradre with everybody, and hearing him singing our music, which was born and raised and produced and recorded in Memphis Tennessee. It was just something I, it's hard to explain the excitement coming from being on stage and that excitement coming out of the audience. It just filled our hearts. Because they really liked us, and they really liked that good old Memphis music, and here's one of the biggest Idols singing that music. It's just pretty much an overwhelming experience that we will probably never ever get over. I hope some way we can do it again." Sebastian was nominated for a Helpmann Award for ''The Memphis Tour'' for "Best Performance In An Australian Contemporary Concert". The annual Helpmann Awards recognise distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in the many disciplines of Australia's live performance sectors, and are similar to the

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

on Broadway and the

Olivier Awards The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

in London.2008 Helpman Award Nominations
Helpman Awards. Archived fro
the original
on 21 January 2012. The concert at The Palms in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

was filmed and released as a DVD/CD in May 2008. Apart from songs from ''The Memphis Album'' which Sebastian sang during the tour, it also contains "I Feel a Fire", an original song written by Sebastian, and a performance by the MGs of

Green Onions "Green Onions" is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Described as "one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever" and as one of "the most popular R&B instrumentals of its era", the tune is a ...

, their hit soul instrumental from 1962. The DVD also has a 20-minute documentary called "On a Dusty Road" about the making of ''The Memphis Album''.

Track listing

DVD and CD

DVD extras

"On a Dusty Road" documentary

Personnel

DVD and CD *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Steve Cropper –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

* Donald 'Duck' Dunn – bass * Steve Potts – drums * Lester Snell –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, keys, organ * Carl Dimatago – guitar * Ben Gurton –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

* Mat Ottignon –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* Dee Uluirewa –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Gary Pinto – backing vocals * Patricia Snell – backing vocals * Ivan Ordenes –

sound recordist Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...

* John Smith – director * Micheal Bramley –

technical director A technical director (TD) is usually a senior technical person within e.g. a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company or television studio. This person usually has the highest level of skill within a specific technical f ...

* David McKell – camera operator * Charlie Sarroff – camera operator * Cameron Davies – camera operator * Renzo Beltrame – camera operator ''The Memphis Tour'' liner notes. Sony Music Entertainment, 2008 "On a Dusty Road" documentary * J. B. Carlin – camera operator, director * Andy Black – sound recordist * Bill Stepanoski – editor * Rob Cannon – editor

Background

The Tour

Track listing

DVD and CD

DVD extras

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

References

External links