The Songs of John Farnham: A Living Legend | Tony Cochrane (23.09.26)
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What inspired Tony Cochrane to create the “Songs of John Farnham: A Living Legend” tribute?
Now, back to Whiteley.
17,000 people and an all-star cast belting out. You're the voice on Sunday night at the Songs of John Farnham, a living legend, Rod Laver Arena, a real high point in this town in recent times. He was the brainchild of a great friend of ours, Tony Cochran, and I didn't want to let the week go without touching base and saying congratulations. Tony, welcome back to the program.
Hey, thanks, Gerard. Appreciate your thoughts.
What an extraordinary night, Tony. What did you think as it was as it was as your brainchild came to life?
Yeah, well, it was, you know, these things are never created individually. They're created by a village and there was a lot of people that worked on that show with me, including my producing partners, Thea and, of course, Paul Dainty. So, look, collectively, where we landed was unbelievable. I've done a lot of stuff all over the world all my life in the entertainment space, and just maybe, just maybe, that was, as Winston Churchill would say, our finest hour.
Why did you want to do it, Tony?
How did John Farnham’s health concerns influence the timing and purpose of the concert?
And it landed at the most poignant time, obviously, with what we're hearing about John's health at the moment.
Yeah, well, of course, when we started planning it 11 months ago, we had no comprehension of that. In fact, one of my personal driving motivating factors in doing it was of course I toured John a lot in his career. I was one of the original producers of Jesus Christ Superstar. And of course I did the main event with he and Olivia Newton-John and Anthony Warlow and a couple of John's tours. So, you know, I've always had the utmost respect for him and great love for him. And truly to work with, he was a gem. It's the only way to describe it. He's just a wonderful human being. So I really, you know, when we started out on this journey of doing this show, it was to... really give him a big uplift and I wanted John to appreciate just how much Australians love him and just how highly regarded he is.
John's kind of almost part of the fabric of Australian society. We've relied on his soundtrack for five decades and I just wanted to make it really special for John and his family.
Why was Chris Martin’s secret performance such a pivotal moment in the show?
And that was probably the guiding light, our North Star, if you like, going way back. So it was wonderful to have both his sons so involved in the show and I know John and Jill are over the moon with the whole thing and the love and warmth that's poured out of not just that night but poured out of the whole country before and since towards his unfortunately declining health.
I'm sure there's a hundred stories from behind the scenes. Have you got a favourite? Hugh Jackman, Celine Dion, Chris Martin. How did you land it?
Well, I really need to tell the Chris Martin story because it's not really my story. My producing partner, who's also my wife, as many people know, Sarah Jean Cochran, she produced that in LA about two weeks ago with Chris in what is affectionately known as the Coldplay Compound up in Malibu. And he didn't want to just sing one of them. He was going to be out of step. He didn't want to sing one of John's songs. He wanted to do something very special. And, of course, when Chris Martin says that to you, just go along with it. You don't suggest to him, no, no, that would be all wrong, do this. So, anyway, I see a work with him on that and his people with him on that.
What challenges did the production team face keeping the Chris Martin segment under embargo?
And they recorded it about two weeks ago in Malibu and... the whole thing was it had to be kept very secret. We were not to really let anyone know that he was going to be in the show, let alone that he was singing a private song written about John. And so it was under incredible embargo. We had to play all, so we had to clear the venue on Saturday night at about midnight after the last dress rehearsal to run it all and make sure we had it all perfectly in time and all the rest of it. Which we did and you know, we ran it with literally only about I think six people in the entire venue So we kept it completely under lock and key until people started buying programs at the show pre-show and seeing Chris Martin's photo and name in there thinking hang on What's he doing with this?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What inspired Tony Cochrane to create the “Songs of John Farnham: A Living Legend” tribute?
0:00–1:27
2
How did John Farnham’s health concerns influence the timing and purpose of the concert?
1:27–2:38
3
Why was Chris Martin’s secret performance such a pivotal moment in the show?
2:38–4:00
4
What challenges did the production team face keeping the Chris Martin segment under embargo?
4:00–5:19
5
How did the live‑to‑cinema broadcast break Australian records and lead to a full‑length movie?
5:19–6:19
6
What does Tony Cochrane say about his loyalty to Queensland during Grand Final week?
6:19–7:36
7
When will the “Songs of John Farnham” film be released in cinemas and why should listeners see it?
7:36–7:53
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Whateley
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