Richard Clapton celebrates his 50th (!) anniversary with shows in Sydney and Melbourne

When Richard Clapton told us the party never ends, he meant it.

Ralph, as he’s affectionately known, is celebrating 50 years as one of Australia’s foremost singer / songwriters with anniversary shows at the State Theatre in Sydney on Saturday, 15 April and the Palais Theatre in Melbourne on Friday, 19 May. Tickets for both shows go on sale at 9.00am on Monday, 20 February from Ticketmaster.

With a songbook featured in the soundtrack to two-plus generations, including Girls on the Avenue, I Am an Island, Goodbye Tiger, Capricorn Dancer, Down in the Lucky Country, Deep Water, High Society, Blue Bay Blues, Glory Road and Angelou, he really is responsible for some of The Best Years of our Lives.

Richard describes it best:

“I can’t believe it’s 50 years since “Prussian Blue”. I had one foot in Southern Germany and another foot in Chippendale, and life was so good in the Lucky Country. Gough Whitlam was our Prime Minister and the Sydney Opera House was officially opened. I had been away for several years, but when I returned in 1973 there was an amazing embryonic contemporary music scene busting to get out of its shell and take the world by the tail. The explosion of original Australian creativity, that seemed to happen all of a sudden, was awe inspiring and kickstarted me into a burst of creative energy.

“Since then, I have released over 20 albums and I couldn’t possibly guess at how many gigs I’ve played, but I think I’ve played every square inch of this wide brown land.

“Fast forward to 2008 when Marc Christowski first presented me at The State Theatre in Sydney. This has become an annual pilgrimage for the fans who come from all over Australia and in fact, the world to be part of Richard Clapton at The State.

“And what a great ride it’s been! So …
welcome to the party that never ends!”

Richard Clapton and his merry band of old mates / excellent musicians will be playing the whole show (two sets).

Photos and artwork can be downloaded from here.

Fans are also strongly advised to use the official ticket links and not to buy tickets from so called “reselling” websites such as Viagogo who typically advertise heavily online and often mislead consumers into paying much higher prices than necessary for tickets that may turn out to be fake.

Tickets for both shows go on sale at 9.00am AEDT on Monday, 20 February (local times) from Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster members can secure tickets first during the exclusive pre-sale from 10.00am on Thursday, 16 February until 9.00am on Monday, 20 February (local times).