ON STAGE
What: Supertramp鈥檚 Roger Hodgson Breakfast in America 40th Anniversary Tour
Where: Royal Theatre
When: Nov. 25-26, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $93.25-$113.75 from the Royal McPherson box office (250-386-6121) or
Roger Hodgson doesn鈥檛 seem interested in resting on his considerable accomplishments.
While he should be at home in California counting his money, the 69-year-old former Supertramp frontman is forever touring the world, often playing venues half as big as his reputation would merit.
That鈥檚 typical of Hodgson, a gentle, softly spoken Briton who left Supertramp when it was arguably at the height of its powers, in 1983, and continues to deliver intimate shows that entrance his legion of diehard fans.
Discussing his songwriting process in a recent interview with The Jerusalem Post, Hodgson said music is how he expresses his 鈥減ersonal search for meaning and love.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 write for anyone else 鈥� it was a real personal experience. So it was incredible to find out later in life that those songs touched so many people and helped to verbalize what they were feeling, but had no way of expressing.鈥�
Hodgson returns to Victoria next week for what will be only his fourth and fifth performances here since 1998. He has no new music on the horizon, not that he needs to compose another note. He has written and sung some of the most well-known songs in pop history, and his voice 鈥� which remains strong 鈥� is instantly recognizable. That combination makes him as bankable as they come.
Hodgson shifted from solo performances to full-band band concerts in 2012, effectively marking his return to the Supertramp sound he abandoned 30 years earlier, and audiences have responded enthusiastically.
His two shows at the Royal Theatre in 2016 were sellouts, and his pair of performances at the same venue on Monday and Tuesday appear poised to go the distance as well.
His co-frontman in Supertramp, Rick Davies, brought a revised version of the group to Victoria鈥檚 Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in 2011, playing a superb show before 6,000 adoring fans. Hodgson has stayed with the Royal Theatre, favouring the intimacy that a hockey rink cannot provide.
鈥淢y job is much less to go out and celebrate my success and much more about giving people the gift of the songs and reminding them about the deeper things in life,鈥� he told The Jerusalem Post. 鈥淚 look upon what I do as a service industry.鈥�
Hodgson co-wrote the bulk of Supertramp鈥檚 material with Davies, but sang the majority of the band鈥檚 hits, including Give a Little Bit, Dreamer and It鈥檚 Raining Again. He was also behind the microphone for The Logical Song, Breakfast in America and Take the Long Way Home, a troika that provided the foundation for the album Breakfast in America, driving it in 1979 to the top of the charts, where it remained for six weeks.
Hodgson is touring North America this year to mark the 40th anniversary of the album, Supertramp鈥檚 most commercially successful outing. It鈥檚 on a smaller scale than in 1979, however, when the band travelled with 52 tonnes of gear valued at $5 million, which required a 40-man road crew.
Hodgson grew tired of the immensity and left the group in 1982, after another world tour. 鈥淢ega success is a double-edged sword,鈥� he told The Jerusalem Post.
鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful, obviously, the abundance and all, but it鈥檚 also very challenging, because your life gets turned around. After Breakfast in America, I had to step back and take a breath.
鈥淲hat keeps a band together is the urge to succeed. Once you have achieved success, it鈥檚 a challenge for the band. That happened at the same time I was starting a family. I had two small children, and I got a loud message to stop and make raising my kids a priority.鈥�
Hodgson will be accompanied by a four-piece combo for his dates next week. If the performances bear any resemblance to those from three years ago, it will be an emotional experience.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing feeling to look out at an audience during a show and see them smiling and crying and hugging each other,鈥� he told The Jerusalem Post.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a special connection that has a deep sense of energy and joy. Modern life, we鈥檙e so consumed with stimulation from the outside that it鈥檚 rare we have time to really stop and question some of the deeper things in life. When I lose myself in an incredible sound of an instrument, magic occurs, inspiration comes and amazing things happen.鈥�
