Over a decade since he won Australian Idol, Guy Sebastian is thrilled to embark on his first headlining tour of New Zealand.
Although he toured here and re-recorded a version of All Night Long as a charity fundraiser for Christchurch with Lionel Richie in 2011, this will be his first solo tour with full band and stage production.
“It’s going to be awesome, I’ve never done my own headline tour of New Zealand before,” Sebastian says.
While on tour he says he will indulge in his other passion – photography. He recently held his first photographic exhibition to raise funds for the charity he established with his wife, Jules, The Sebastian Foundation.
“We started the foundation … it’s about helping out families in need. I started doing a lot of photography on tour, it’s another creative outlet for me. I’ve even photographed a friend’s wedding. On tour I’m chasing light in between sound-checks and planes.”
At the recent ARIA Awards he won Best Australian Live Act and Best Pop Release for his top selling album Armageddon, which includes the hit Battle Scars.
Sebastian, a devout Christian, is due to become a father for the second time in May and says fatherhood, and his young son, Hudson, deeply influenced his thought process while writing Armageddon.
“Before a child your world is mainly about yourself and partner. Throw a human you have made into the mix and you look at the world and worry, it really changed my writing.
“Big Bag World … I have to try not to cry when I sing that. Get Along, is a prayer for a utopian world where we can all love each other.”
He has worked with some of the world’s hottest artists and describes a recent tour with Taylor Swift as “pretty nuts”. He’s collaborated with Robin Thicke and Lupe.
But a standout memory was performing for Oprah Winfrey.
“She got me to sing at an event, she was only supposed to stay for the first song but she stayed for the whole set, then she came up to ask me to play for her at a private party she was having that night.
“She said, ‘I don’t care who is organised to play, I want you’. She ended up on stage dancing with me and the band, it was such a lovely moment.”
THE DETAILS:
Guy Sebastian, The Get Along tour.
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