The end of the beginning for Russell Morris

AUSTRALIAN musician Russell Morris has been a constant on the music scene for 58 years and after almost six decades, he is taking a step away.

The ARIA Hall of Famer is embarking on a Farewell Tour, making his way around the country on one last major circuit and will include a stop in Geelong on August 2.

Geelong holds a special place in Morris’ heart as a place he has performed in the past and visited regularly.

“Every weekend when I was young, I would go to Geelong, I would hitchhike from Richmond, go down to Geelong, go to the hamburger shop which was past the Ford Factory, have our hamburgers there, go into Geelong then hitchhike down to Torquay or Anglesea,” he said.

Tickets for his Farewell Tour have proven to be popular already with many shows selling out months in advance and extra performances added.

Geelong was one of the extra shows added to the tour, at Morris’ request.

“I’ve always loved that part of Victoria because I spent a lot of my youth down there, surfing, hanging out and having good friends,” he said.

“It’s recapturing things that I did when I was younger and there’s the thoughts, when you go to Geelong, all those memories come back to me.”

People lucky enough to get their hands on tickets can expect to hear some of his biggest hits, along with some more unknown songs.

Morris also released a new single earlier this year, The End of the Beginning, written at a time he knew he was doing the final shows and during the loss of a friend.

“I thought about a great speech that Winston Churchill gave, one of many of these great speeches during the war, and one of them, this is perhaps not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning,” Morris said.

“I thought ‘What a great line’, because at the end of the beginning, there’s something happening, but that’s the end of the start.”

Morris is looking forward to connecting with everyone on his coming tour, which begins on July 31, and although he is unsure what comes next, he will continue to write music.

For tickets and more information, head to russellmorris.com.au