INXS Tickets Continued
Throughout the 80s and into the 90s, INXS was a consummate global rock band with a musical distillation of strength, sensitivity, unity and intelligence. Asked to describe their own music, the members would use such terms as "white boy dance music", "big, basic dirty noise" and "intoxicating little songs". Critics spoke of certain songs' "blend of instrumental colours", "the silky glide of vocal melody over sinewy rhythms" and of an overall "spare, elegant funk" and "dense, glossy beauty".
In August, 1977, Michael Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly, Garry Beers, Tim Farriss, Andrew Farriss and Jon Farriss performed their first gigs in Sydney's Northern beaches as The Farriss Brothers. They quickly won Australian, then international, acclaim.
At the end of the 70s, INXS propelled themselves out of the frantic, new wave indie label environment of Sydney, Australia. In less than a decade, INXS was being hailed by major music journals as being, along with U2 and Guns N' Roses, one of the three biggest bands in the world.
INXS performed before gauchos in Buenos Aires, royals in Melbourne and teens in Tokyo before headlining in front of 75,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. They then played to 100,000 fans at Rock In Rio. Along the way, they earned 17 Billboard Magazine hits, seven of which were Top Ten hits. Britain came on line a little later, with their 23 hit run commencing with 1986's "What You Need". There were six consecutive Top Ten U.K. and U.S. albums, seven MTV Awards, three Grammy nominations and number one albums all over the world.
The death of Michael Hutchence in November of 1997 had a profound impact on the members of INXS. Having been close friends and collaborators for two full decades, the future for the band was very much uncertain. Eighteen months later, with guest vocalist Terence Trent D'Arby, they performed before 90,000 people and a vast television audience to officially open Sydney's Olympic Stadium. Since then, INXS has performed around the world with singers including Jimmy Barnes, Jon Stevens and Suze DeMarchi. In their homeland, INXS received the ultimate accolade from the Australian music industry when they were inducted into the ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) Hall Of Fame.
