Though he's been on the touring circuit the duration of his career, this April marks the first national tour in a decade for Aussie rocker Shannon Noll.
First coming to public attention as the endearing farmer from Condobolin, NSW, on the original season of 'Australian Idol' in 2003, Shannon is more often referred to these days as an Aussie icon."Mate, I'm blown away and so proud and so thankful for this opportunity the public has given me," Shannon gushes.
"It's all because of them, right back from voting for me on the show, buying albums and supporting my career through the last 20 years.
"Without that support, none of this would have happened. I owe everything to the generosity of the Australian public."
Shannon celebrates another milestone this year; 20 years since the release of his debut album 'That's What I'm Talking About' (which debuted at #1 on the ARIA album chart). For Shannon, two decades later, aside from being a point of gratitude, signifies a time for reflection, ambition, regret, and wanderlust.
"Looking back on it, reminiscing, it's about the journey," he says. "Always moving forward and pushing forward is great, but stopping and taking stock is important. It was a pretty crazy time back then.
"There'll be lots of [reminiscing] with these shows," Shannon continues, referring to his upcoming national tour across April and May in celebration of two decades of 'That's What I'm Talking About', which featured his mega hits 'What About Me' and 'Drive'.
"Hopefully there's a lot of people out there who remember the songs that weren't perhaps singles, the album tracks that maybe they were fond of."
It's not just the past that'll be present on this tour. Shannon also has a new single coming out that he'll be adding to the mix, as well as his recent duet 'Don't You Wanna Stay' with fellow 'Australian Idol' season one contestant Cosima De Vito.
"It'll be great to experience that nostalgia on this tour, but also celebrating the last 20 years and looking to the future and what's on the horizon," Shannon says.
Take a listen to Shannon's 2023 single 'Believe It' and you'll hear he's still got the goods, sounding the same as he has ever done. Bashfully, Shannon says: "Yeah, I'm happy with that.
"There's a lot of range in a lot of my songs, and I really believe I'm singing really well. At least as good as I have, if not better. That's something I'm really proud of, but now I know more about the science of singing and how to use your instrument properly and better. It's a lot of fun and very exciting to be able to go into a new tour in that headspace."
Though he's been playing upwards of 70 shows every year throughout his tenure, Shannon's not had a structured national run in over ten years. "I'm really excited about that," he says.
With the tour in mind, new and old songs, a celebration, there may be a lot of people in Shannon's audience that may not have even been born when he first set out on the Idol stage. "There's a music culture of the past," he says.
"To have young blokes expressing that they're fans is surreal, but I'm lucky to have that."
Shannon Noll 2024 Tour Dates
Fri 5 Apr - Venue 114 (Sunshine Coast)Sat 6 Apr - The Princess Theatre (Brisbane)
Fri 19 Apr - Costa Hall (Geelong)
Sat 20 Apr - Wendouree Centre (Ballarat)
Fri 26 Apr - Canberra Theatre Centre
Sat 27 Apr - Anita's Theatre (Wollongong)
Fri 3 May - Thornbury Theatre (Melbourne)
Sat 4 May - West Gippsland Arts Centre (Gippsland)
Fri 17 May - NEX (Newcastle)
Sat 18 May - Sydney Coliseum Theatre
Thu 23 May - Hindley Street Music Hall (Adelaide)
Fri 24 May - Regal Theatre (Perth)
Sat 25 May - Cummins Theatre (Merredin)
Sun 26 May - The River (Margaret River)
Fri 31 May - Empire Theatre (Toowoomba)
