Southern Sons return

Australian rock icons Southern Sons will return to the West Gippsland Arts Centre next month for the "Heart in Danger Tour".
Named after their breakthrough 1990 smash hit "Heart in Danger", the tour will include performances in major cities and regional centres across Australia, including WGAC on Saturday April 4.

Lead vocalist Jack Jones said audiences could expect to hear all their favourite Southern Sons hits, including "Always and Ever", "Hold Me in Your Arms", and "You Were There".

"(The tour is) designed around nostalgia in the sense that we're not trying to do a reinvented version of Southern Sons. We're trying to give people a very complete and nostalgic experience," Jack said.

"That said, there is, you know, some new material in the set as well. We're doing the usual kind of show where the band starts out full, and then we get small and do a little acoustic, intimate part of the show and then we sort of kick it off (again) through to the end."

Joining Jack and fellow original Southern Sons band member Peter 'Reggie' Bowman are bass player Chris Becker and drummer Johnny Salerno.

"It's a great band," Jack said. "It's one thing to play with great people, but it's another thing to play with great people who are absolutely spectacular musicians as well."

"That for me is something that really brings a new energy to this tour. I'm very excited about that, it's going to be absolutely awesome."
The "Heart in Danger Tour" follows the band's 35th Anniversary Tour performance at WGAC last March. As a Gippsland boy, Jack said he was looking forward to performing in Warragul once again.

"That part of the world holds a very special place in my heart," he said.
"I spent a big part of my childhood down there, so I always look forward to getting back there and I love looking out into that audience because I see a lot of people that are familiar faces and then I see a lot of people that I don't know as well."
Jack said there were several highlight moments in the set list that the audience can look forward to.

"At the end of a song called "Shelter", there's a nice little moment that the band gets to sort of chill and shine a bit," he said.

"There's also the stripped back part of the middle of the set. I always enjoy that because it's an opportunity to sort of get intimate and it feels more like a one-on-one sort of conversation.

"There's a couple of little surprise moments, definitely one surprise at the end of the night that people won't be expecting," he teased.
"For those who come to the show, they're going to get a real treat."

Jack encouraged all music lovers to go along to the show.
"It's a night full of music that was made by people, for people," he said.

"In an age where sometimes it's hard to tell who wrote that song that you like, what you get (from the tour) is a collection of songs that were painstakingly crafted by the creators. There was a lot of love and devotion put into making the records that these songs are on."

The Southern Sons "Heart in Danger Tour" will perform at the West Gippsland Arts Centre on Saturday April 4 at 8pm.
Tickets are available to purchase online at https://sales.wgac.com.au