In the 1990s, in the years just after Vietnam re-opened its doors to the world, the biggest expat event on the Saigon calendar, was the annual Australia Day party. And 1998 was the biggest of them all.
Two legends of Australia’s music scene, Neil Finn (a Kiwi who’s long been an honorary Australian - at least in Australia’s eyes) and Mark Seymour of Hunters and Collectors, signed up for the charity event. Proceeds went to the Fred Hollows Foundation, which does amazing work on preventable blindness in Vietnam and many other places. Fred was also a kiwi. We Australians habitually steal great kiwis. . You can read about the Foundation here.
It was a massive day with a huge international crowd. Responsible Service of Alcohol protocols were nowhere in sight. But the atmosphere was wonderful.
I met Neil Finn through an old mate, Mike Lynskey, who was running the Fred Hollows Foundation at the time. The Fred Hollows Foundation does amazing work on avoidable blindness in the developing world, and has a big Vietnam programme.
Mike had organised a trip to introduce Neil Finn and others to the work of the Foundation in Vietnam. We spent a week travelling from Saigon to Hanoi, meeting the doctors who were doing the Foundation’s cataract surgery in remote parts of the country. Happily, the trip coincided with the Australia Day party and Neil agreed to perform.
Neil Finn is as wonderful in person as you’d expect from his stage and songwriting persona.
He travelled with his son Liam who makes an appearance in the final video, Twist and Shout. Liam’s gone on to a successful musical career of his own. The other youngster, jumping up and down on stage, is Cam Hollows, Fred’s son. Cam has followed his father’s lead into medicine.
It was an unforgettable musical experience too. Even now there’s a little disbelief that I got to sing harmonies with Neil Finn and Mark Seymour. And it was incredible to see the magic of Neil Finn close up on stage. He has an exceptional way of connecting with an audience.
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate any video of the Mark Seymour show yet. Will keep searching.
The rest of the band had an amazing time too. Neil Finn was impressed by the guitar prowess of Mr Phuc - who I still have the privilege of playing tunes with, along with bass player Hoai Anh. Hoai Anh now co-owns Yoko Bar in Saigon’s District 3 - a good place to catch live music in Saigon.
The delightful Sara Dawe was also singing and her husband Simon was playing drums. From memory, Simon was the first General Director of RMIT University in Saigon. He and Sara returned to a coastal town outside of Melbourne to raise their family many years ago.
For some, the highlight of the weekend was the warm-up show Neil and Mark put on at the Apocalypse Now bar in Saigon, the night before the Australia Day gig. I don’t think the Apocalyptic Cafe has topped that in the 18 years since. I'll never forget the Australian backpackers who stumbled into Apocalypse to find the two musical legends, performing unannounced.
There are some other memories wrapped up in these videos too. Neil Lawrence, who plays harmonica in Twist and Shout, became a close friend after that trip. Neil was the Australian advertising guru behind the Kevin07 election campaign, as well as many other successful ad campaigns. He was tragically killed in a diving accident in the Maldives last year. We miss him terribly.
I’m also reminded that early 1998 was the last time I had hair. One month after this show, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for the first time (it recurred in 2000). I cut my hair before chemotherapy and have never grown it back. Looking at these videos, I think that’s a good thing. These days it’d be a pretty thin, grey, cover anyway.
So you can imagine, rediscovering these videos one night last week, induced some real nostalgia. I found some other old videos of Saigon and Vietnam in the early 90s too. I’ll post them soon.
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