TCB Band and Mick Gerace rock Sydney!!!

In the first performance of their ‘In The Spirit Of Elvis’ Australian tour, Elvis' legendary TCB band proved to the packed Sydney Casino Theatre why they are rated as one of the world’s best groups. Australian Mick Gerace was the perfect lead singer, showing what a great voice & range he has, while never falling into the trap of trying to over-imitate The King.

This is where Elvis impersonators so often get it wrong, but Mick Gerace performed just for the love of the music and the chance to sing with such an outstanding group. All your favourites were there, but they also included a few important songs that you could never hear at the ‘Elvis: The Concert’ Show.

Classics like ‘Always On My Mind’, ‘My Boy’ & ‘Help Me’ were performed and Mick nicely acknowledged how they fitted into Elvis’ musical legacy. Mick also showed just the right amount of humility and a great sense of humour when he reacted with the band, as well as teasing the audience! For me, the highlight of the whole show were the huge smiles and knowing winks from all the members of the TCB Band as they played together.

It was obvious just how much they were enjoying the music & the show along with all of us. They all got a chance to work out, and among highlights were the brilliant blues of ‘Steamroller’ and a delicious ‘American Trilogy’. Backup singer Nadine Cook’s beautiful flute solo got the round of applause that it truly deserved. James Burton’s guitar playing shone as always and he did some fabulous chickin’-pickin’ work on ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and an outstanding ‘Burnin’ Love’.

Jerry Scheff and Ronnie Tutt were as dependable as ever on the rhythm section while another treat was the fact that Mick Gerace asked all of the band members to tell a little story about working with Elvis! Pianist Glen D Hardin was just delightful. He had such a huge grin on his face that you would have thought that he had never had the chance to play ‘Teddy Bear’ or ‘A Big Hunk O’ Love’ on stage before in his life!

The band interaction was such a thrill to see and it was obvious how much they were enjoying working with Mick Gerace. With the TCB band also complemented by a live horn section, keyboard strings, along with some excellent rhythm guitar work by Mike Conway, the sound was as good as Elvis in concert.

The real added bonus was the late addition of ‘Sweet Inspiration’ Myrna Smith to the backing group. Looking beautiful, & not a day older than when she appeared in the film ‘That’s the Way It Is’, her voice was the perfect soulful accompaniment. She laughed and danced the whole way through the show and was yet one more reason that you see this band on tour. Make sure you don't miss out on the future concerts.

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