Melbourne funk/soul kings The Bamboos release Live At Hamer Hall recorded with the fifty-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the iconic Hamer Hall in 2021. The album is composed by re-inventions of songs from the band’s twenty plus year career with arrangements of trumpet player Ross Irwin.

Recorded live with the fifty-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the iconic Hamer Hall in 2021 during a short break between lockdowns, Melbourne funk/soul trailblazers The Bamboos were able to reimagine a selection of their most loved songs in the most incredible way possible.

With arrangements courtesy of Bamboos trumpet player Ross Irwin, the album doesn’t simply put strings behind the recorded versions but brings widescreen total re-inventions that add a new found drama and a cinematic sweep to songs from the bands twenty plus year career.

Bamboos guitarist and bandleader Lance Ferguson recalls that the show “truly felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Melbournians had just emerged from the city’s first major lockdown, the gift of seeing and playing live music again seemed to carry extra weight for everyone in the room. All of the raw emotion in the room, along with the incredible arrangements from our very own Ross Irwin, galvanised the band and the audience to make these shows count”.

Fans of the great works of symphonic soul such as Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and the arrangements of legendary studio figures such as David Axelrod, Isaac Hayes and Charles Stepney will find much to enjoy here.

Already one of contemporary soul music’s greatest voices, Kylie Auldist shines here like never before on recent tracks like “Power Without Greed” (from their 2021 studio album Hard Up) and on their cover of London Grammar’s “Strong” to vintage crowd favourites such as “I Don’t Wanna Stop” and “Keep Me In Mind”. Tim Rogers makes a guest appearance and revels in the extra space in a version of “I Got Burned” while Ferguson delivers one of his greatest ever guitar solos.