This Aussie busker has gone viral for his Oasis set. But he’s been playing this spot for years
There was no mask on Friday (or for the repeat performance on Saturday, and nor will there be when he does it again on Tuesday night), but he did have a bucket hat and adidas jacket to impart just a hint of Gallagher style to proceedings. But he did have a clutch of five songs ready to go.
He always keeps an eye on the big acts coming to town, and makes sure he has at least a couple of tracks up his sleeve. The biggest audience he had pulled before Friday was on the same spot after a Red Hot Chili Peppers show, in the Vader outfit but without vocals.
Robinson learnt to play in his teens, inspired by a Jimi Hendrix best-of album. The first track he learnt to play was Hey, Joe. His mother, a classical piano teacher, was his first tutor. He also studied jazz bass in Canberra.
He’s a full-time musician now singing with The Dolt Wisneys, an act that does punk-tinged covers of songs from Walt Disney movies, and playing bass in the Melbourne Ska Orchestra. When the weather is kind, of course, he also busks.
It could all have turned out so differently, though. In his early 20s, Robinson was an apprentice fitter and turner, and one day had an accident in which he almost lost a couple of fingers.
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“That was a bit of a wake-up call for me,” he says. “I was like, ‘Hang on, my music career could have been over before it began.’ That was the turning point. ‘I’m going to get out of this job and get back to doing what I love.’”
It turns out plenty of others love what he does, too. Playing unmasked as thousands sang along was, he says, “an intense experience”, but one he hopes to have again.
With a crowd like that, you’d have to assume he raked it in. Robinson is a little coy on that front, saying “you’d think so” but adding that busking ain’t what it used to be.
“We’re in this sort of transitional phase, where a lot of people are not carrying cash.”
He has options for people to pay electronically, but “it’s challenging in this day and age because monetising art has gotten harder … Streaming is all the rage, and it’s great for getting your stuff out there, but musicians are not seeing the money.”
It’s not just about the loot anyway, he insists. “I’m going to continue doing this for the love of music and the beautiful connection that I get – I live for that,” Robinson says. “It’s nice to have these moments where everyone just comes together and sings. It’s a beautiful bit of unity. I think we need more of it.”
As for his favourite Oasis song, he picks Champagne Supernova. But the audience, he adds, was particularly keen on Don’t Look Back in Anger.
No Wonderwall? “I refused to sing that song for many, many years,” Robinson says, risking the wrath of the legions of Noelheads out there. “Not because I dislike it, but because it had been overdone, particularly in pubs and bars.”
He’s come around, he hastens to add, and he does perform it now. “There’s a timelessness to that song and a beauty to it,” he says. “I get a little bit emotional about this actually … It’s like finding redemption through love. And that’s a beautiful thing. There’s something universal about that. There’s a reason that song has stood the test of time.”
Oasis play their final Melbourne show at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday, November 4, then perform at Accor Stadium in Sydney on November 7 and 8. Robinson will also perform outside Southern Cross tonight.
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