Colin Hay to perform at Prairie Center for the Arts

Colin Hay may be best known as the lead singer for Men At Work, the platinum selling Australian band that topped worldwide charts in the 80s with anthems like “Down Under,” “Overkill,” and “Who Can It Be?”

Hay’s justifiably proud of his place in pop history, but since moving to Los Angeles in 1989, he’s made 11 solo albums (and he reckons that his latest release, Gathering Mercury, may be the best of the lot).

Playing solo plants his feet, connects him to his audience and lets them connect to him. An acoustic evening with Colin Hay means rediscovering the bare essentials — one guitar and one voice. Transporting when he sings, hilarious when he talks, he expresses what we all share, the peaks and valleys of our lives.

“He’s a gracious performer with an arsenal of blithely heartbreaking folk-pop masterpieces and bell-tone vocal ability. There are once-great artists and still-great artists, and then there’s Hay, who keeps getting better.” (LA Cityzine)

Tickets for Colin Hay, $30; $28 students and seniors, can be ordered by calling (847) 895-3600. Tickets are available online at prairiecenter.org. The Prairie Center is located at 201 Schaumburg Court, in Schaumburg.

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