Entertainment
15 April, 2025
Rolling out famous crooners
COME and relive the anthems and crooners of a generation by the hand of Raff De and Lisa Stewart who’ll bring Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, Dolly Parton and many more to the CPAC stage this May.
Gold Coast soloist Raff De is debuting a new show in Cairns before taking it on a national tour – a new variety show that will bring the best hits from Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones and Dolly Parton and their stories plus some extra hits by Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash and more on Friday, May 23 at CPAC.
Hits like ‘It’s not unusual’, ‘Spanish Eyes’, ‘A man without love’, ‘9 to 5’, ‘Jolene’ and more will be a part of the big repertoire of a night that will feature great vocals, remarkable musicianship and eye-catching dance movements.
“We want this show to take you back to the first time you listened to these songs, how you felt, where you were, what memories are attached to them,” Mr De said.
“This is the first time I’ll be performing in Cairns and I feel humbled and excited. We’re here to bring the variety show that Cairns deserves.
“I wanted to create a show you don’t just sit and watch someone sing, we have recruited local musicians, dancers and performers to make for the best variety show you’ll see.”
Mr De said this show would pay tribute to the remarkable artists of the 60s and 70s with a live band and lots of outfit changes.
“It’s a huge production, we do songs across the board, there’s a storyline so it’s a very exciting show,” he said.
“We’ll have a live band from Cairns and the Gold Coast, including Les Woodford, a drummer that artists like Frank Sinatra used to use and musical director Alan Laguda from the band ‘Street Café’ will play the grand piano and keyboard.
“Lisa Stewart is also an amazing performer, she’ll be performing as Dolly Parton but she’s also a great saxophonist and we’ll have the local dancers the SwingRays performing on stage with us, so it’s not just us singing, there’s a lot of excitement and lots to enjoy on stage.
“This is a one-show only and it’s magnificent value, because it’s not just one artist, you have a big variety in Dolly Parton, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Johnny Cash so you won’t get bored.
“This show allows me to excite every single person in the audience and take them back to the experience in life when these songs came out and make you feel like that again.”
To buy tickets for the tribute show, visit https://bit.ly/4jgI0xf
