Too Close for Comfort Tour

The Too Close for Comfort Tour was the first world tour embarked upon by Australian singer-songwriter Darren Hayes as a solo artist, following his split from Savage Garden. Beginning on 31 August 2002, the tour has passed across Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and Southern Asia.

Content

The tour features Hayes performing the majority of his first solo album, Spin (with the exception of "I Can't Ever Get Enough of You"), as well as a selection of Savage Garden hit singles, as well as the first song that he and Daniel Jones wrote together, "I'll Bet He Was Cool". Specificus supported Hayes during all the Australian dates, and Aneiki supported Hayes across all of the other dates.

The tour was filmed for DVD release, with footage from the three dates at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, on 11, 12 and 16 October 2002, being featured. The DVD release itself is in fact a 'tour film', chronicalling the journey across the entire tour, from start to finish, with footage filmed backstage, in Darren's hotel room, before every live performance, and two frank interviews with Darren, interspliced with the concert footage. All of the material for the film, bar the two interviews, was filmed in 2002. However, due to ongoing commitments, Darren was unable to find the time to record interview material for the project, and it lay on the shelf until early 2004. The first interview, recorded at that time, was originally due to be the basis of the film, however, his record label, Columbia Records, did not wish his fanbase to see his "darker side" (a direct quote from the film), and at that point, the film itself, including the concert footage, remained unreleased. However, when Darren decided to start his own label, Powdered Sugar, he filmed a second, more up-to-date interview in 2005, and the film was re-edited, and finally released in stores on 13 January 2006, nearly four years after the initial capture of the concert. The film contains elements of both interviews, as well as a substantial amount of backstage footage, with the concert.

The concert footage contained on the DVD is much shorter than the actual setlist itself, with "Dirty", "To the Moon and Back", "The Lover After Me", "Chained to You", "Crush" and "Spin" all being removed from the final cut, and the live performance of "Affirmation" instead being placed at the end of the film. Darren stated during the 2005 interview that this was because he was in an "extremely bad place" at the time, and thus decided to remove all of the "darker" performances from the cut, and instead retain more "emotional" material.

Setlist

Tour dates

Cancellations

Some of the Australian dates were cancelled for various reasons.

Some of the Asian dates were cancelled due to the terrorist threats in that region at the time, in particular relation to the Bali Bombings.

One of the Russian dates was declared a national day of mourning as a result of the Moscow theater hostage crisis.

• 5 September - Newcastle Civic Theatre
• 9 September - Wollongong Entertainment Centre
• 10 September - Canberra Royal Theatre
• 28 October - Kremlin Palace, Moscow

Live Band

• Musical Director, Keyboards - Andrew Dorsett
• Band Leader, Bass Guitar, Additional Guitar - Lee Novak
• Keyboards, Backing Vocals - Catherine Wood
• Drums - Jerohn Garnet
• Backing Vocals - Angi Bekker, Tina Kopa

Production

• Tour Production Manager - Colin Skals
• Show Designer & Lighting Director - Bruce Ramus
• Film Director - Grant Masrhall

External links

• Unofficial Darren Hayes fansite
• Sydney Morning Herald review