Music legends are reborn in 27 Club at Fringe World as Perth musician Kevin Mitchell joins Sarah McLeod, Carla Lippis and Dusty Lee Stephensen to bring the songs of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and other 27 Club icons back to the stage in a powerful live rockumentary for mature music fans.
Led by local favourite Kevin Mitchell, the award-winning show has wowed audiences across Australia and overseas and will make its Perth debut at The Rechabite Hall in Northbridge from January 21 to February 15.
The 27 Club celebrates the songs and stories of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain, artists who all died aged 27 yet left songs that still fill car radios today. For many fans, the 1960s songs are the heart of the show, with Hendrix’s guitar, Joplin’s rasp and Morrison’s dark charisma.
For Mitchell, bringing this celebration of music history back to Perth feels overdue.
“It feels like it’s been a long time coming,” he said. “Personally, it’s great to bring the show to my old home town. My mum will get to see it and she’s a straight shooter too, so I’ll be expecting a very honest review.”
Mitchell believes The Rechabite’s hall-style room will suit the show because it feels more like an old-school rock venue than a traditional theatre.
Rather than dwelling on tragedy, the show leans into the joy and power of the music, blending full-throttle concert energy with storytelling that invites audiences to remember where they were when they first heard these songs.
Mitchell thinks one of the reasons the show works is that it is not a straight tribute act.
“The producers have largely left it to the artists to bring to each song what they want to,” he said.
“Sometimes you’ll get a version that stays quite true to the original and other times it will differ quite wildly. I think the key is to capture the spirit of the artist and the song and once you have a good idea of what that is, then the rest will just sort of come out of you the way that nature intends it to.”
The cast around him is a rock lover’s dream. Australian favourites Sarah McLeod (The Superjesus) and Kevin Mitchell, the Perth-born frontman of Jebediah and ARIA-winning solo artist Bob Evans, join powerhouse vocalists Carla Lippis and Dusty Lee Stephensen with a full live band. Together they take on anthems from Joplin’s Piece of My Heart and The Doors’ Light My Fire through to Hendrix favourites and the grunge and blues songs that defined whole eras of music.
Mitchell is quick to credit his bandmates with tackling some of the show’s biggest moments.
“My particular skill set is not really well suited to Hendrix or Joplin,” he said. “We have Dusty to do the Hendrix stuff because he is an absolute wizard on guitar and an incredible singer too, and Sarah and Carla to nail the Joplin material. I sing a little Morrison in the show, which has been interesting because I didn’t realise The Doors had so many great songs.”
For local audiences there is an extra connection. Jebediah formed in Perth in the 1990s and quickly became one of WA’s most loved alternative rock bands, and Mitchell’s later work as Bob Evans added a more reflective, acoustic side to his catalogue. With decades of touring and recording behind him, he is a familiar face to many West Australians who grew up with live music; in 27 Club he brings both his storytelling and rock chops home to the stage.
On tour with 27 Club, Mitchell has found the reactions from audiences of all ages remarkably consistent.
“I love seeing kids in the front row who are into Nirvana, because that’s what I grew up on as a teenager,” he said. “Then you have the more mature audience members who grew up with the 60s stuff, Hendrix and Joplin and The Doors, and they are there to relive something from their own youth, sometimes with eyes closed and dancing in the aisles.”
Many Have a Go News readers bought these albums on vinyl or cassette the first time around. Mitchell believes their appeal has proved enduring for good reasons.
“Younger kids might not know much about the artists themselves, but everyone recognises Foxy Lady as soon as that riff begins,” he explained. “For people who have lived with this music for decades there is obviously a lot of nostalgia, and with this show, it hits differently than when you listen to the records at home because it’s real musicians and singers playing live.”
For long-time fans, 27 Club is a chance to relive the songs of their youth played live by artists who clearly love them, and to share that experience with younger family members. The show carries a PG rating, and minors are welcome on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday sessions (not on Friday, Saturday or Sunday), with all minors required to attend with a parent or legal guardian and leave the venue by 10pm.
Performances run for 70 minutes, with 8pm start times on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 6.30pm shows from Thursday to Sunday. It is an easy fit for a warm summer evening in Northbridge.
The Rechabite is close to public transport, cafés and small bars, so it is simple to turn the outing into a relaxed night in town or just slip in for the show and be home by 10pm.
The 27 Club plays at The Rechabite from Wednesday January 21 to Sunday February 15. Bookings via fringeworld.com.au, just search 27 Club.
“And if you’re not entertained,” Mitchell said with a big grin, “then heaven help us all.”
