Colin Hay has been quite content doing his solo work for many years now, whether it’s with a backing band or just him and an acoustic guitar at center stage. There was a partial Men at Work reunion in 1996 and Hay dusted off the MAT name again in 2019 and toured with no original members. The band made a stop in Raleigh, North Carolina at the Red Hat Amphitheater on August 7as part of the Sirius XM 80’s on 8 Summer Tour with Rick Springfield and John Waite. After the first song, Hay quickly acknowledged that the band had no original members other than himself. His backing band sounded great, had really good chemistry and were very energetic. The 12 song setlist heavily favored their debut album Business as Usual with a few deeper tracks that may have been lost on the commercial or casual fan. The arrangement of the setlist was something that puzzled me as the crowd really didn’t start getting into it until over halfway through with “Overkill.” The last quarter of the set was loaded with all of the hits which, of course, got a huge reaction from the crowd. It was great to reminise for an hour or so on the brilliance that Hay and the original MAW lineup blessed us with back in the 80s with those first two albums. Those songs have stood the test of time for decades!

Review and photo gallery by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price