Vanessa Amorosi can’t wait to walk down memory lane and into some country bakeries on new Aussie tour

Vanessa Amorosi has spent more than half her life as an Aussie pop music icon. She became a household name when she was still a teenager. She has played in venues all over the world, from bush stages to major arenas. She performed to millions at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Most recently, she has been in Europe performing at Night Of The Proms, backed by a huge orchestra. So she has plenty of experience of life on the road playing to different audiences. And ahead of her first Australian tour since 2019, she knows exactly what to expect: bakeries. “My favourite thing is the bakeries. I’m obsessed with bakeries,” she says on a video call from LA about what she is most looking forward to on her Australian tour. “Oh, God, I go to town,” she says. “I love our salad sandwiches because we put beetroot on it. Now here (in LA), they don’t, and it really upsets my soul. Don’t get me started! There’s no fish and chips out here. There’s no chicken salt — that kills my soul. Then you’ve got hamburger with the lot — that doesn’t exist (in LA). We put pineapple in our hamburger with the lot and egg. “We have the scones. I love scones. We have those doughnuts where you burn your mouth when you eat them because the jam is so hot that it just burns all the inside of your mouth. So I’m looking forward to those adventures. Nothing like that in LA exists. The bread does not taste like bread.” It seems for Amorosi — like her Australian fans — it’s been too long since she’s been in town. The tour, Vanessa Amorosi: Celebrating 25 Years, is a look back on a career packed with dance floor fillers and club classics from an Aussie icon. Amorosi, whose Australian accent has not softened an inch despite her years living overseas, says she is looking forward to reflecting on her career with her long-time fans. “I want the songs to sound like a huge party where everybody is just celebrating,” Amorosi says of her upcoming club tour. “Because it is an intimate crowd I don’t have to stick to a protocol. With the big shows I’ve been doing, everything has to run to a time and a format. And when you have so many people working towards a production, if you were to extend a solo or vamp on something longer, it throws the lighting out. It throws everyone off. So I’m looking forward to coming home and being able to follow the energy of the audience and to have those moments where I can stop playing and have a conversation and talk about some of the stuff that happened behind the scenes.” ‘There’s so many stories. “The music Industry is full of so many wacky, wonderful, crazy moments. “I’ve spent my life on the road. I’ll get into a town, and it’ll be like, deja vu. It’s like, ‘Oh, I remember being here 18 years ago, and that was there, and we went to this place’.” Amorosi says while fans can expect to hear classics like Absolutely Everybody and Shine, they might not sound exactly like the original versions — they are better. “I’m so blessed and happy that I have (those songs) to still celebrate with everybody,” she says. “They’ve definitely evolved, because my vocal has far more mid range to it. When I listen to the originals I sound like a little child. These songs will still be in the same key, done the same way, but I just don’t sound like I’m 15 and 14, because originally, that’s when the vocals were recorded. I was super young. “I’m looking forward to it because it’s going to be intimate, but yet the sound is going to be stadium.” In recent years Amorosi has toured Europe extensively with the Eurythmics, and late last year took the spotlight in Night Of The Proms performances across Germany backed by a 100-piece orchestra. She says she would love to bring some of those big show experiences to Australia. “I would love to be able to, in Australia, do a 100-piece orchestra gig at some point,” she says. “And to do elaborate arrangements. I have some pretty crazy ideas I would like to pull off for my stuff. I would also love to, in the future, be able to go (to Australia) with (the Eurythmics’) Dave (Stewart). Obviously he loves Australia, and has always loved touring Australia. But I would love to do that with him, and to take him to some of the kooky little country towns, which are my favourite because I grew up in the country.” And perhaps even stop at some bakeries on the way through. Vanessa Amorosi plays Magnet House Perth on April 17.