Australia Rolling Thunder Vietnam More Than Music

Rolling Thunder Vietnam delivers history via the big hits of the era
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
JO LITSON ARTS WRITER
AUGUST 23, 2014

The show features screens that play archival footage from the Vietnam War.

WHEN musician Wes Carr was ­approached about performing in Rolling Thunder Vietnam, it was the thought of his two-year-old son one day being conscripted into national service that brought home the project.

A “concert drama” about the Vietnam War, told from a predominantly Australian perspective, Carr plays a young Sydney man who is conscripted in the ­National Ballot.

Almost 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam between 1963 and 1973.

More than 1000 were wounded and 521 were killed.

“Although I studied the Vietnam War growing up, ­essentially (I knew about it) through the music (of the era),” Carr says.

“Then I read the script and ­I started thinking about how if in 17 years time they called my son up to go to a war where they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into, as a father they’d have to lock me up before they could get to him.”

Subtitled Songs That ­Defined A Generation, Rolling Thunder Vietnam boasts a kick-arse selection of 20 ­classic hits including War, The Real Thing, Born To Be Wild, Killing Me Softly With His Song, Most People I Know Think That I’m Crazy, All Along The Watchtower and We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place.
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