Big Red Car Tour (partially found footage of The Wiggles concert tour; 1995-1996)

Promo photo from the Big Red Car album shoot

Status: Partially Found

Big Red Car is the fifth album by the Australian children's band The Wiggles^[1]^[2] that was released on February 20, 1995^[3] and it's video counterpart (their third video overall) would be released eight months later. The album would feature the debut of both the titular Big Red Car and a new character Wags The Dog and both continue to appear in various pieces of Wiggles media to this day. The album and video would also mark the last time Anthony would wear a green shirt, as starting with the previous releases of the Yummy Yummy album and video, he would wear a blue shirt and eventually, the blue skivvy and continues to wear the blue skivvy to this day. The group would go out on a tour to support the album not long after its release and the tour would mark the first to have its concerts recorded.

History

While details on the tour are scarce, what is known is that it commenced on March 6, 1995 at the Albert Hall in Canberra, Australia and wrapped on January 9, 1996 at the Dallas Brooks Hall in Melbourne, Australia, with performances at Kidz Fest '95, Carols in the Domain and New Year's Eve at Darling Harbour also taking place during the tour^[4]. The tour would mark the only time the title track and Hat On My Head would be performed and the debuts of several concert main-stays like Dorothy's Dance Party, I'm a Cow, Wags The Dog and Nicky Nacky Nocky Noo and most famously Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?). The titular Big Red Car would also make its first on-stage appearance, pre-dating its appearance as a fully motorized vehicle in 1997. Their December 18-21, 1995 shows at the Seymour Centre in Sydney and January 8-9, 1996 shows at the Dallas Brooks Hall in Melbourne were named "The Wiggles' Happy Holiday Show" and these concerts would feature new songs from their yet-to-be-released Wake Up Jeff! album like the title track, Five Little Ducks and Henry's Underwater Big Band^[5] and would feature the "Magic Box" that would be seen in the video of the same name to introduce Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?). Though unconfirmed, the songs Everybody Is Clever and We Like To Say Hello are rumored to have also been performed at these concerts.

Availability

The tour would be the group's first to have its concerts recorded (the exact number of concerts that were recorded or when they were recorded is unknown). The first glimpse of footage the public would see from the tour is during a segment of the Australian lifestyle program Healthy, Wealthy and Wise in November 1995. The footage is taken from their performance at an unknown church in Blackburn sometime in April 1995. Although it's unlikely The Wiggles still have the footage of the concert that was shown in Healthy, Wealthy and Wise, it may still exist in the Network Ten archives. Further footage from the tour would be seen at the end of the Wake Up Jeff! video that was released in August 1996, location of this footage is unknown. The songs shown were Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?) and D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (My Favourite Dinosaur). Since they lost the masters to the Wake Up Jeff! video (to which they uploaded a VHS copy of the video to their YouTube channel), it's likely they lost the masters to this concert as well. On June 13, 2022, a brief clip from one of the Happy Holiday Shows was used in an RNZ report on the original lineup's upcoming tour in New Zealand. Clips from other concerts on the tour have surfaced over the years with the majority of them showing up in news reports or interviews, but no full performances have surfaced.

Gallery

Videos

Wake Up Jeff! with two songs from the tour at 5:34

Healthy, Wealthy & Wise segment on The Wiggles with clips from one of the concerts

Report on the OG Tour in New Zealand (Happy Holiday Show footage at 0:38)

Pictures

Performance of Henry's Underwater Big Band (1/3)
Performance of Henry's Underwater Big Band (2/3)
Performance of Henry's Underwater Big Band (3/3)
Performance of Wake Up Jeff!
Performance of Joannie Works With One Hammer
Performance of D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (1/4)
Performance of D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (2/4)
Performance of D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (3/4)
Performance of D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (4/4)
Photo of possibly Everybody Is Clever being performed at the Seymour Centre along with puppets for Henry's Underwater Big Band
Wags The Dog during a concert
Performance of Get Ready To Wiggle
Performance of The Monkey Dance
Performance of Dorothy's Dance Party