John Farnham - Gethsemane (1992 Australian cast - Sydney final night) 

Amen brother.

Yep, this bloke is on another level mate. The power in his voice is insane. Same as you mate, I grew up with his music and I was fortunate enough to see this musical when I was 8 years Old in Adelaide. No one will ever understand the power of Johns voice until they hear it.

Sadie the Cleaning Lady Rose Coloured Glasses

Will Conyers I appreciate you taking the time to provide that info. Thank you!!

During this run I saw the show 6 times. It was just superb. Some of the best memories.

How can it be melb /adelaide, when john mentions it's sydney at the end of the video?

I absolutely agree with you.

Hi Alan, we met briefly at last week's wonderful celebration of the film at the Olympic. Loved your stories, specially the Glyn one. When I asked Tim, he also had fond memories of the Aussie version. John and Jon do such a great job, but kudos to Ian G and Murray H for laying down the original top line template and Ted and Carl for their on-screen tour de force. What I didn't realise was that it was the original Grease Band backing track that was reused on the film version. Andy R

@@decibelreport2474 hi Andy I much enjoyed the film and conversation with Tim , and thank you for your note here. Only Tim Andrew and me were present to hear Ian sing the original interpretation of this song; it was simply a one or two take epic, and never preformed since by Ian . The improvisations and wonder of Ian's work stands for all time. . John Farnham's magical powerful musical gift in this video is spectacular and he holds my attention all the way . Ted and Carl also blew me over , and Carl was the loudest singer i had ever recorded, with his microphone perhaps a meter away. It was a very special evening and i have a load more stories about the whole affair, in my book which Olympic will know all about when it's eventually on the streets. Super to meet you Andy. Alan O'Duffy

John is the best

Incredible. Amazing. The best interpretation ever. Farnham is a gift we get maybe once in a century.

I am thrilled to hear that John's cancer is no more , and send him love galore, positive good vibes and laughter ahead in his recovery... Buckets of Love to him and family big time; his legacy is a blessing to the world .. Alan O'Duffy ...@@way2dumb

Put some milk on that “beard” of yours and let the cat lick it off

Where would Jesus get a sparkly vest ?

@@beaed9296 Mary Magdalene's pimp was handing them out like loaves and fishes at The Last Supper.

He is in his seventies and still has every bit of his range. He certainly COULD pull this off!

Of course he can. Have you heard him lately? He was superb in FireFight concert Feb2020

Sweet! I've been wanting to know who did the arrangements for this production. Currently working on a melodic metal version of the album just for fun and am definitely listening to this album a lot as a guide. The arranger did a brilliant job of being original yet still maintaining the essence of the original songs.

+sean hingston the Australian versions are often the best. Starlight Express (90's), This and Love Never Dies Australian Versions were superior to the other versions.

I am familiar with the Australian production of Love Never Dies and have to agree. It is far superior. I'll need to check out the Australian version of Starlight Express.

Saw the live production in Brisbane and it was a brilliant night.

@@madoldcoot8563 Well, these are different versions aren't they? This was a rock concert, Needley was in a stage production. Neeley was the better actor. No doubt about that. Although, he 'hit' that G5, but the version I saw he was very flat under the note. He didn't hit it cleanly, and it was strained too. I'm not saying he was bad, but he wasn't perfect either. Although I haven't found any who who acted it better. You mention power. John Farnham definitely DOES have superior vocal power - there's no comparison there, although Needly is not lacking power - just not as purely powerful as Farnham - few are. Look at how far he away he has to hold the mic. A stage show should definitely have the better acting and character interpretation than a rock concert, lol, so one should very much hope that is the case. As for the high note, well, it's one high note right? Sure, he did it, albiet not great in the version I saw. But a whole performance shouldn't be judged on just one note - the note might well be expected, but remember, it isn't even in the original score. And for the record, Farnham CAN actually hit that note - on a belt, in fact.

Now that's blasphemy. Neeley is God.

@@jondunmore4268 well he is quite literally Jesus (in my opinion the absolute best)

100% agree...

@@jondunmore4268 Ian Gillan has entered the conversation....

@@ragekage3175 Again...Ian Gillan. That's it.

He was 43 at the time His voice is great now He is 71 now

I saw this play EVERYONE in it was great, Kate Ceberano as Mary and Jon Stevens smashed it as Judas

The whole thing is on you tube

I’d say overall, especially on the studio version, it’s a lot rockier than the original. And a lot less cheesy.

@@katherinemorelle7115 Idk. I find the 92 version kinda more cheesy and less epic. But with a different charm. Although, yeah. It's very much rockier.

No the irony is you, you silly little man, because if you did your homework first before shooting off at the mouth and telling lies and dribble... John never went away, or did he say he was ever going away or retiring... what he said is he's going to stop doing the large touring that he usually does... and he has stuck to his words, now generally when you see him, he's sharing the spot with other artists on the night or day of show.... in future, think before you speak, you might actually begin to like it!!!!

Now we wish he could, but he doesn't need to. The evidence is there.

Jason Hagen so was Jesus at this point. Might have been done deliberately.

I like this version, but saying “every other version” isn’t good is such a misstep. This works too but the G5 is iconic for a reason imo, to each their own tho. But just saying, to have the original version of your song almost unrecognizable means you had to have done something *really* good on the spot

Totally agree. He's acting as well, not just singing. He's arguing with his father. Why would you be screaming?

No se puede hacer esta comparación, los registros son distintos, tú hablas de una versión grabada en estudio como la de Ted, e incluso de una versión de cine, dirigida por un director y grabada y re-grabada hasta llegar a lo que buscaban, aquí tienes una versión de John Farnham en directo, en un teatro, una noche... y es majestuosa la interpretación vocal. Otra cosa es que a ti te guste la voz fina y aguda de Ted, pero hablar de conjunción de emociones, en un teatro de estas características, es querer adornar la lírica por amor al arte, Son versiones diferentes y si me das a elegir.. me quedo sin duda alguna con la de John Farnham, donde el poderío de su garganta es muy superior al de Ted, por algop será que en Australia le llaman "La Voz"

Solo aclarar que Ted Neely no fue el original, el original fue Ian Gillan. (Ya sé que este comentario tiene 4 años pero igual quería contestar).

@@alfreedsnarbona_m95 ¿Tú sabes la de veces que Ted ha representado JCS en teatros? La última vez que lo vi, el año pasado en Madrid. Con setenta y muchas años y aún defendía bien este tema, obviamente, sin alcanzar ya sus agudos. No sé por qué dices que tiene una voz fina, cuando su voz es rockera, que es lo que requería esta obra, ya que de hecho, es una ópera rock.

the 90s...'nuff said!

Tenebris Rex Just had a look at your hair, ‘nuff said.

Tenebris Rex BTW Jesus had long hair.

@@lynw1623 You know it's probably the blonde he's talking about...right?

Could do it in his sleep, chose not to for the interpretation

@@brianelliott6959 no one ever makes a stylistic choice to pull a punch on what made the song legendary. A G5 can be physically impossible for even the best singers regardless of training, its a matter of either having that hardware or not and despite Farnsey being one of the greatest Im afraid that seems out of his wheel house

@@GDJ113 John can hit B5. Check this out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F2Yi6TVi-sU.html

@@GDJ113 nah, no chance Farnham wasn't capable of the falsetto G5. Heck, he comes close to belting/mixing a G5 in this performance alone. That falsetto scream on a G5 is much easier than belting a C5, even. Farnham could do it, he obviously chose not to.

@@beethockmtee8565 either he can't do it or he made a bad artistic choice to not do it, but either way there's no good way to *not* sing that note

I have to disagree with you on this. I saw this live arena show it was one of the best moments. He was definitely the right choice. Plus this is a full on rock musical song nothing sweet about it. So definitely disagree with you

chewie211171 why not? It’s a fictional character

chewie211171 That was your take on this magnificent performance. Blonde hair. ?

His voice and ability to emote are what's most important.

I was so on board with Jesus belting rock music, but blonde hair?????!!!!!!

They were already down on Mary wasting money on ointments, I'm guessing spending it on hair dye would have been out of the question

Well the high note has always been optional but I'm sure a lot of people would agree with you that the high G has always been a trademark of the song since Ian Gillan sang it on the original concept recording of Superstar in 1970. In our opinion though there have been numerous singers throughout the years, including John Farnham who have given a stellar performance despite not (or choosing not to) hit the high note.

JCS Zone unlike John legends performance of this song which was just awful

Clearly don't know anything about singing. What John is doing here is easily much harder to do than just the regular high G. Every other singer that does the high G does it in falsetto, which almost any competent singer can do, however their strength in their falsetto is what sets them apart (Gillan). It is no secret John has an incredibly strong falsetto, he just chooses to not use it here. John sings a section of the song at 3:30 an entire octave above what is originally written - in chest voice. This is insane. He is belting powerful high C's and D's in full chest. Not the mention the high F he hits at 4:13 without the use of falsetto. Every singer on the planet knows John could have easily hit that G every day of the week if he wanted.

@@connorhawkins7342 Sorry mate. I was in a bad place when I made that comment. I'm fine now.

@@music4real Hey mate, good to hear you're feeling better. All the best

Jesus isn't real. Farnham is. I'd say Farnham therefore did it better.

@@jpgduff If you think Jesus is not real, you should read the recordings of the Roman historian called Josephus. Unbiased, historical records!