An Evening with Burt Bacharach - Canberra, October 30, 2015

by Tony Magee

Theatrical release poster for Bacharach's Australian tour in 2015, which included Canberra

With the death announced of Burt Bacharach on February 8, 2023, aged 94, I was reminded of the time I was lucky enough to capture him live when he came to Canberra and performed at the Royal Theatre on October 30, 2015.

Besides Burt at the piano and doing some vocals, he had with him two talented female vocalists plus his backing band.

Alas, the evening had a shaky start, with the amplification of the concert grand piano failing during the opening piece. One could just hear it faintly, acoustically, but there was nothing coming through the audio system.

Burt then rose and came centre stage to a microphone to say good evening to the audience. Meanwhile, a technician rushed onto the stage and started adjusting various cabling to rectify the piano problem.

“Burt quipped, “Oh, I think he’s fixing the piano”.

All was well after that and the piano came through the audio system with clarity and was balanced with the other instruments in the band.

He played many of his hits from a 60 year career up to that point: Anyone Who Had a Heart (which was a huge hit for both Dionne Warwick and Cilla Black when it first came out in 1963), Walk on By, I Just Don’t Know What to do with Myself, Make it Easy on Yourself, Anyone Who Had a Heart, Wishin’ and Hopin, (They Long to be) Close to You, A House is Not a Home, You’ll Never Get to Heaven (if you Break my Heart), (There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me, What the World Needs Now, Trains and Boats and Planes, The Look of Love, I Say a Little Prayer, Do You Know the Way to San Jose, This Guy’s in Love With You, Promises, Promises, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, That’s What Friends Are For and others.

One particular highlight of the evening was when Burt performed “Alfie”. Choosing not to delegate it to either of the female singers, he sang it himself, in a very moving, gentle and heartfelt rendition. His voice has aged, but it was beautifully done.

The audience gave him a thunderous round of applause for this piece.

The original audio recording for public release of "Alfie" was performed by Dionne Warwick, but it was Cilla Black who sang it for the movie soundtrack of the same name in 1966, staring Michael Caine.

Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, Bacharach was present, playing piano, along with producer George Martin.

After the 4th take, Martin was happy and said "that's the one", but Bacharach wasn't happy and felt Cilla could get more out of the vocals. On the 29th take, he was happy. "Now, THAT'S the one". He also commented, "Cilla Black brought "Alfie" alive with her incredible vocals", adding "There are moments in that song where she really grabs your heart".

Black later recalled, "Burt kept saying to me, "I'm looking for that little bit of magic".

Dionne Warwick was hurt by not being engaged to sing "Alfie" for the movie soundtrack and was quoted as saying, "That British woman stole my song".

Black and Bacharach in 1966 at Abbey Road Studios for the recording of "Alfie" that would be used in the movie soundtrack. Bacharach later stated, "Cilla Black brought "Alfie" alive
with her incredible vocals".

Cilla Black with Burt Bacharach, piano and recording manager
George Martin (right) at Abbey Road in 1966

Canberra's 2015 concert was a truly superb evening in the presence of a living legend of songwriting and performing.

Also published at City News website, in an edited format, February 22, 2023