Photo: I.McGregor
 

JUDITH Durham has spent half her career running from the Seekers. She first bolted after their phenomenal string of hits from 1963-68, going solo for 25 years as Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley gallantly courted such worthy surrogates as Julie Anthony and Karen Knowles.

But surely they knew they'd never find another her.

Tonight and tomorrow at Rod Laver Arena, the world-conquering folk-pop quartet that played their first gigs at South Yarra's Treble Clef coffee lounge in 1962 will make another of their perennial returns, this time at the invitation of popular classical maestro Andre Rieu.

Rehearsing in Maastricht with the romantic Dutchman's 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra was an offer too lavish to refuse, Durham says, but her new resolution to ''never say never'' comes from much closer to home.

''One of the reasons we had our reunion tours in the '90s was the unexpectedness of how the music had gone, that these songs we'd recorded should have somehow become timeless classics,'' she says.

''I've had to reassess my limited understanding of how the fans felt and accommodate that. What has been surprising is the joy it's brought to me, joining hands with all those people in appreciation of what the Seekers are.''

Much has changed in 49 years. The Treble Clef on Toorak Road is now an Italian restaurant, and the hackneyed old swagman celebrated in the Seekers' first single has been retired for the more inclusive I Am Australian.

It was that song, written in 1987 by Woodley and Bushwackers mainstay Dobe Newton, that first put the Seekers on the Rieu radar. When Rieu last toured Australia, shock jock Alan Jones joined the orchestra to sing it in Sydney.

After that, a few searching phone calls were deemed appropriate.

''Andre wasn't familiar with the Seekers at all,'' Durham says. ''After having spoken to him and his wife in Maastricht, we realised of course his background is entirely classical. He wasn't aware of any pop music in decades past.''

She doesn't want to reveal much about the Seekers' position and repertoire in the show, except to say that ''Andre has very carefully planned where he wants us to be: we're a special attraction''.

Even after seven years off the road, the group's unmistakable harmony was there from bar one of rehearsals, she says. ''Well, it always was. That's what's so amazing about the Seekers. When we first sang together in 1962, the sound was there. So it is a bit like getting back on the bike.''

The problem is they all have plenty of other vehicles these days. Durham has three musicals in various states of repair and two albums ready to go, including her Australian Cities Suite, which pays tribute to each capital city in turn.

She and Woodley both still live in Melbourne; Potger and Guy are in the Macedon district. At the mention of Rod Laver Arena, she can't help remembering the record-breaking crowd of 200,000 at their Moomba Day concert at the nearby Myer Music Bowl in 1967.

That was two months after the band was awarded a four-way Australian of the Year honour. In turn, that was only four years after 19-year-old Judy Durham started her first job in a local advertising agency.

''If I hadn't gone to work at J. Walter Thompson and met Athol working in the next office on the first day, would the Seekers have come about?'' she wonders. ''All of these things seem like chance but I'm assuming it's all part of destiny.''

So, perhaps, is a 50th jubilee concert for Moomba 2012?

''I have no idea what's in store,'' she says. ''I'm certainly never running away from the Seekers again.''

The Seekers join Andre Rieu at Rod Laver Arena tonight and tomorrow

article by: Michael Dwyer