The Sydney Festival has posted the following on it's website about the Rogue's Gallery concert on the Opera House forecourt.
"Sydney Festival is disappointed that Rogue's Gallery did not live up to expectations for some audience members.
Rogue's Gallery is our third collaboration with acclaimed producer Hal Willner, following the immensely popular Came So Far For Beauty (2005) and Lou Reed's Berlin (2007).
Rogue's Gallery came to Sydney Festival with a track record of previous shows at London's Barbican Centre, Newcastle's The Sage Gateshead and Dublin's Analog Festival, where it was warmly received by both public and media. Willner conceived the Sydney version on the same principles. His method is to bring together an eclectic range of artists for a short but intensive rehearsal period resulting in an event characterised by performances of spontaneity, risk and surprise."
Rogue's Gallery is a sea shanty with sailors,convicts, travellers and all the hardships, horrors, lusts and romance that went along with life at sea.It was conceived by actor Johnny Depp and amongst others it starred Marianne Faithfull (Quintessential rock survivor!),Tim Robbins (Hollywood superstar and musician!),Todd Rundgren (producer and legendary purveyor of deft pop gems!) and our very own Peter Garrett (former front man for Midnight Oil and current Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts ).
Amongst the comments on the Festival's website :
"There was only one good thing about Rogues' Gallery for me; Kate St John playing an oboe in the first number. The rest of the show was really disappointing."
"Marianne Faithful had some presence, despite being out of time out of tune and forgetting the words, but the rest of what I saw made me cynical about old rockers"
"I felt sorry for some of the performers who did bring professionalism and inspiration to this second-rate event. In addition to poorly rehearsed and indifferent performances,"
"This was a very very disappointing event. It felt like being at the rehearsal for a rather bad high school concert."
"Ms Faithfull seemed to be under the weather (no pun intended) and had to hum when she couldn't find the words to read and Mr Robbins appeared to be chewing gum."
" It was a complete rip-off. When you pay $145 you expect professionalism and a class act."
Here's Todd Rundgren in top form:
