Crowe to kick off rock and roll tour
He’s a sell out in New York and a hit in Los Angeles, but Oscar winner and part-time musician Russell Crowe isn’t too big to support his local bar in Australia.
Gladiator star Crowe’s rock and roll band, Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts (TOFOG), begins a sellout American tour next week.
But Crowe decided to launch the tour with a single Australian performance at his local bar in Coffs Harbour, a coastal resort town 360 miles north of Sydney, best known as capital of the nation’s banana-growing industry.
Crowe called the owners of the Coffs Harbour Hotel last weekend with an offer too good to refuse.
‘‘He said: ‘I want to do you a favour ... I want to play the band there instead of in Sydney’,’’ hotel partner Ray Alaban, said today.
‘‘It’s a favour to the whole town. He’s trying to put money back into the town which is great. You can’t knock that can you?’’ Alaban said.
Crowe owns a ranch in the hills outside Coffs Harbour.
The hotel had 1,000 tickets for the Sunday night show priced at 10 Australian dollars (£3.60) each. They were sold in hours.
‘‘We’ve had calls from all around the countryside, Sydney, America, Europe, trying to get in, thinking it’s a big turn, but he’s just here as a courtesy,’’ said Alaban.
After the performance on Sunday the band will fly to Austin, Texas for the start of a 14-stop North American tour.
