The reviews for the Australian shows, in Sydney and Melbourne, seem to be positive compared to those of the U.K. Barry Humphries spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald before the concerts and said of our hero, “So far there has been no resistance to the idea of having Sir Les appear… but there is sure to be a whole body of resistance afterwards.”

In the second half the urbane intelligence of Humphries made way for the carefully honed repulsiveness of Sir Les Patterson, who led an audience rendition of O’Hagan’s Along the Road to Gundagai.

The Sydney Morning Herald

We sang along to the 1922 classic, the theme to the Dad and Dave radio show, Along the Road to Gundagai and cringed, ogled and applauded as Sir Les hammed up the Humphries’s original Chardonnay, a waltz cum drinking song in supremely bad taste.

Guest pianist Dejan Lazic, who was onstage for Sir Les’s act, was one of the few who looked bemused that such a repellent character was a star attraction.

Australian Stage

The Patterson song cycle paid tribute to Peter Dawson, Australian jazzman Graeme Bell (still going strong at 95) and Rod Stewart, with Sir Les’s seminal version of Do Ya Think I’m Sexy? finding the ACO in disco mode.

Mt Druitt Standard

The second half was given over to Sir Les and Dame Edna. Spitting profusely and groping his “trouser-snake”, Sir Les’s blue-streaked banter was more compelling than his Rex Harrison-like speech-singing in a bracket of classic popular songs.

The Australian

Then it was time for the gloriously repulsive Sir Les Patterson to take charge of the show. He was full of booze-fuelled enthusiasm and the front row probably wished they had been issued disposable ponchos to protect them from the shower of fragrant spittle that rained down.

Equally delightful were his renditions of songs including The Stockriders’ Song and Along The Road To Gundagai, as well as fabulously cringe-worthy versions of Chardonnay and Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?.

Daily Telegraph

featuring Sir Les Patterson
with the London Symphony Orchestra and The New Antipodean Singers
Conducted by Carl Davis

Who else can claim their alter-ego has received a ‘Commander of the Order of the British Empire’ for services to entertainment, they have their own range of MAC Cosmetics, a city street in Melbourne named after them & are still TV’s most loved housewife – it’s the one and only Dame Edna Everage! Coinciding with Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson’s ‘Last Night Of The Poms tour’, we are releasing the ‘Last Night of the Poms’ 1981 original recording, first performed immediately after the Proms in 1981. 2 CD set-all tracks are performed by Dame Edna Everage with Carl Davis conducting The London Symphony Orchestra and The New Antipodean Singers featuring Sir Les Patterson.

Disc 1

1. Overture On Australian Themes
2. Fanfare For A Cultural Attache
3. Sir Les Introduces Peter And The Shark
4. Peter And The Shark

Disc 2

1. Fanfare For A Dame
2. Song Of Australia – Canto 1
3. Song Of Australia – Canto 2
4. Song Of Australia – Canto 3
5. Song Of Australia – Canto 4
6. Song Of Australia – Canto 5
7. Song Of Australia – Canto 6
8. Song Of Australia – Canto 7
9. Song Of Australia – Canto 8
10. Song Of Australia – Encore

A 2009 remaster of the original 1981 recording.

Amazon.co.uk has a double CD of The Last Night of the Poms listed on their web-site. The release date is 4th September 2009 so it can’t be an audio recording of the recent performances. Unfortunately there is very little information other than it’s a 2009 digital remaster that is labeled as being an ‘import’. It is also available as an MP3 download. The Sir Les related tracks are :-

• Fanfare For A Cultural Attache
• Sir Les Introduces Peter And The Shark
• Peter And The Shark

You could just buy those 3 Sir Les tracks for £7.37 but you may as well buy them all for just £8.69.

This audio is also available on iTunes for £9.99.