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From our partners at Crystal Ballroom:

Colin Hay (of Men at Work)
Jake Oken-Berg

* Crystal Ballroom |
* Thursday, July 15

* 8 p.m. door, 9 p.m. show |
* $23 advance, $25 at the door |
* 21 and over
Tickets on sale now!

About Colin Hay (of Men at Work)
“Although I'm not technically an American citizen, I've been living here for twenty years,” reflects Colin Hay from his home in California. “I like it here. You look up at the sky, and there's no evidence of anything. It's amazing to think that, under that sky, there is so much horror going on here…but it's so beautiful at the same time.” Hay's new album American Sunshine, available from Compass Records, is marked by several sideways glances at the American dream – that perilous balance between potential and reality – along with knowing ruminations on the transformative effects of love and the passing of time, set to some of the purest pop, hardest rock, and most emotionally bare acoustic balladry Hay has yet laid down. Curiously, the America of American Sunshine is profoundly shaped by two very different dream factories on nearly opposite ends of the country: California and Nashville.

“Oh, California” – all smog-kissed sunlight and lingering, still-untapped possibilities – opens American Sunshine with a perfect blend of awe and cynicism, exploring an idea of the west that began with the pioneers and persists well into the present. When Hay tells of how “The sons and daughters / Followed all the signs to paradise / drinking only dreams and promises”, he could be describing the region's earliest settlers or tomorrow's American Idol hopefuls. “There's a broken dream in every grain of sand,” Hay observes, “but it's as close as I can get to the promised land.”

Themes of redemption and renewal come naturally to Colin Hay, as he is in the midst of a remarkable renaissance. While his voice and visage are still familiar to millions from his tenure as frontman, principal songwriter, and lead vocalist of pop sensations Men at Work (“Down Under,” “Overkill,” “Who Can It Be Now?”), the past ten years have found him quietly re-introducing himself to new generations of fans. The frequent use of his music on soundtracks – including the hit television show Scrubs (on which he has also had several cameos) and the sleeper-hit soundtrack to the film Garden State – has proven the timeless appeal of his songs' personae: quizzical, curious, cynical yet open-hearted. Combine that with tireless touring and an ongoing successful partnership with Nashville-based indie Compass Records, and Hay is poised to enter a new phase in his already storied career.