Markus Hamence: You were both in Adelaide at the beginning of the year with your solo shows, are you keen to get back here together with ‘Wendy Matthews & Grace Knight – We’re Going To Graceland’?
Grace Knight: The audiences during our last trip were fantastic. It’s such a pleasure, we can’t wait to come back together.
Markus: What is it in Wendy Matthews that you admire and respect.
Grace: Firstly Wendy has a wicked sense of humour, I love that about her. I love her distinctive style. Her voice is sublime, she has so much power and control, she’s just such a great singer.
Markus: You been in the music game for a few decades now and seen a lot come and go, what do you need do you think in the industry for longevity?
Grace: Treat your work as a business, treat the people you work with respectfully and behave professionally, and put in 100% at every show.
Markus: It’s the first time performing ‘We’re Going To Graceland’ in Adelaide, what can we expect from the show?
Grace: The reason we picked these songs is so we could sing together, so we’re on stage singing together the entire show. It’s a lot of fun and high energy, people are going to know these songs and can’t help singing along.
Markus: Paul Simon is obviously an iconic singer songwriter, is their a certain pressure to deliver his material with the quality that’s almost expected?
Grace: I don’t know about pressure but these are great songs and you want to do them justice. We’ve put together a band of brilliant musicians. It’s a real privilege to perform with them.
Markus: Is their a song that really sums up ‘Paul Simon’ for you?
Grace: I love singing ‘You Can Call Me Al’. The verses have a jazzy quality to them. Then the chorus pumps in with poppy vibe. It’s a fun energetic song that the audience really get off on.
Markus: Obviously his career spans many decades, but when ‘Graceland’ came out it was huge for him. Have a you a favourite track from the album?
Grace: Graceland would be a favourite but we do songs from right across his repertoire. There’s so many from the early Simon and Garfunkel through to Graceland and beyond. So many great songs and they’re all brilliantly written 3 or 4 minute stories.
Markus: Is there a chance we possibly see a album recorded with this material?
Grace: There’s no plan at the moment to do a recording of this and we’ve only ever planned on doing this show for a limited time. It’s very possible this is the only time we make it to Adelaide.
Markus: What do you enjoy about the Adelaide audiences?
Grace: They don’t hold back. They’re out for a good time and the energy between us builds as the evening progresses.
Markus: With a vast array of songs yourselves, tell me a song from Wendy Matthews catalogue that you’d love to perform (if you haven’t already)
Grace: LOL, I’m laughing because that’s the very thing Wendy and I wanted to avoid doing. We didn’t want to try and shoehorn ourselves into each other’s repertoire or wander on and off stage while we took turns at doing our own stuff. For us, the whole point of doing this show was to sing together, to explore what happened when we combined our voices.
Markus: Finally, if you get in Adelaide early enough what is one thing you’re looking forward to experiencing, remembering it will be summer and stunning weather 🙂
Grace: I’m looking forward to you taking us to lunch in your favourite tranquil, park like area????
Wendy Matthews and Grace Knight – We’re Going To Graceland
Friday 1 December 2023, 8.00pm
Saturday 2 December 2023, 2.00pm & 8.00pm
The Regal Theatre
Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/CIEUZ
www.markuspresents.com.au
