Two of the blues’ finest exponents return to the Bellarine this weekend almost exactly 12 months after their first visit together in 2025.
Internationally acclaimed guitarist Geoff Achison and 25-year-old UK saxophone star Tom Waters first played at the Bellarine Estate on 8 March, 2025 as part of their first extended musical collaboration together.
They return on Saturday 28 February as part of a three-week, 11-date tour of the south-east coast. And according to Achison, it’s even better the second time around.
“We’re really getting to know each other now…as the miles roll on and you play gig after gig, you really get to know each other, not just musically, but hanging out,” he said.
“He’s a fantastic kid – I say kid, he’s 25 – but compared to someone like me, he is at the beginning of his journey.
“He is just brimming with ideas and musicality, and he’ll play all night if he’s let off the leash. He just won’t stop, whereas by the end of the gig I just want to sit down and have a drink.
“He’s great to be around…it’s reminding someone like myself what I got into it for, just the whole buzz.”
Achison himself is no slouch; since 1994 he has released 20 albums and six singles, won the Albert King Award for Most Promising Guitarist in Memphis in 1995, been listed as one of Guitar Player magazine’s Top 10 Hot New Guitarists in 2008 and been inducted into the Victorian Blues Hall of Fame in 2020.
But at the tender age of 25 Waters boasts a resume of impressive collaborations with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Jules Holland and George Thorogood.
“Tom’s one of those guys who’s insatiable for music of any kind, so whilst he can blast out some roots rock stuff like Louis Jordan and King Curtis, he also loves pop music – Dire Straits, David Bowie,” Achison said.
“And then backstage he’ll just sit at the piano and play these beautiful jazz standards. So he’s one of those guys you can throw anything at and he’s like, oh yeah, I love this.
“We’re getting a lot of return business from people that saw Tom last year, the crowds are really building. So I think the word’s getting out.”
Visit geoffachison.com/tours for tickets and more information.
