Formed in Adelaide in 1964, and originally named Down The Line, ZOOT was a band full of super talent with members including Beeb Birtles (later a founder of Little River Band), Rick Springfield (successful solo artist, songwriter and actor), Rick Brewer (went to join the Ferrets) and Darryl Cotton (solo artist and actor). ZOOT were crowned Australia’s Best Group in Go-Set in 1969 and had hits including ‘One Times, Two Times, Three Times, Four’, ‘Monty and Me’, ‘The Freak’ and their cover of The Beatles ‘Eleanor Rigby’.
While the possibility of an Australian reunion tour had been discussed amongst the ZOOT band members as far back as 2011, sadly lead singer Darryl Cotton lost his battle with liver cancer in 2012. As such the band members have gone to lengths to let fans know that this tour is about honouring Cotton who was the band’s lead singer, with ARIA Hall of Fame inductee Russell Morris joining ZOOT in his place.
As Rick Springfield explains “This whole tour is about honouring Darryl Cotton and his band ZOOT, Darryl also had a band with Russell Morris, Jim Keays and Ronnie Burns for 16 years, so it’s great to have Russell celebrating Darryl by joining ZOOT.”
The reunion, which has everyone in the Australian music industry jumping off their seats with excitement, celebrates both the 50th anniversary of ZOOT’s debut album, Just Zoot, and follows the release of the ZOOT anthology, Archaeology, in 2018.
Tickets will be available for presale on Wednesday 19 February and public on sale Friday 21 February 2020.
Thursday 12 November Brisbane – The Fortitude
Friday 13 November Adelaide – Thebarton Theatre
Friday 20 November Sydney – Enmore Theatre
Saturday 21 November Melbourne – Palais Theatre
Visit the davidroywilliams.com for ticket links and details.
For details of where Archaeology can be purchased and downloaded see the ZOOT site.
Images:
ZOOT ‘4 Shades of Pink’ Album Cover from Zootband.com.au
ZOOT ‘Archaeology’ Album Cover from Zootband.com.au
ZOOT Australian Tour 2020 poster from RickSpringfield.com
