ARC has built a strong second life out of pulling classic albums apart and putting them back together onstage. This year the Australian Rock Collective — Kram (Spiderbait), Darren Middleton (Powderfinger), Mark Wilson (Jet), and Davey Lane (You Am I)— are taking on Hotel California, an album Lane admits is far more complicated than it first appears.
“We haven’t really done anything quite like this before,” Lane says from his partner’s house before rehearsals begin. “There’s a real precision to this record. Especially vocally. The backing vocal arrangements are pretty complex in places.”
ARC’s annual tours have already tackled albums by The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Neil Young, but Lane says Hotel California has become one of the most demanding projects the group has attempted.
“You think you know these records inside out,” he says. “Then you actually sit down and work out the harmony parts and realise there’s all this stuff happening that you never noticed before.”
That process of “getting under the hood” has become one of the biggest attractions of the ARC concept. Every year the musicians choose another landmark album and learn it piece by piece, often discovering details buried deep in recordings they grew up listening to.
Even Lane — who happily describes himself as “a lifelong Beatles nerd” — says revisiting records like Abbey Roadrevealed things he’d somehow missed for decades.
Technology has also changed the way musicians prepare for these shows. Lane says AI stem-separation software has become incredibly useful when trying to isolate harmonies or specific guitar parts from old recordings.
“You can separate the lead vocals from the backing vocals and really hear what’s going on,” he says. “Even a few years ago that felt pretty futuristic.”
He points to Now and Then — restored using Peter Jackson’s audio technology — as an example of how quickly the software has evolved.
“Now anyone can basically do versions of that on their laptop,” he says.
Still, Lane says there’s a difference between hearing a cleaner remix and replacing the emotional impact of the original recordings.
“Hearing remixes can be great for another perspective,” he says. “But the original records still carry all the emotional weight.”
ARC’s setlists are decided democratically, usually while the band is still touring the previous show. Lane jokes he’d happily drag the group into more obscure territory — early Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd gets a mention — but says practical realities always come into play.
“That’s not going to fill up the Opera House,” he laughs.
Instead, this tour will feature Hotel California in full before branching out into earlier Eagles material and solo songs connected to the band’s members.
“Obviously that first Greatest Hits record gives us a lot of stuff from before Hotel California,” Lane says. “And we’ll throw in bits of the solo material as well.”
There is one Eagles-related hit that definitely won’t be making the setlist.
“We draw the line at ‘The Heat Is On,’” he says, deadpan.
The famous dual guitar solo in “Hotel California” itself remains one of the bigger challenges. Lane admits it’s nerve-racking tackling such a well-known piece of guitar history night after night.
“One of the positives is that because we’re doing the album in sequence, we get that one out of the way pretty early,” he says.
To help recreate the album’s layered sound, ARC has expanded the touring lineup with Eileen Hodgkins and Rick Stewart from Eils & The Drip.
“This record is so dense in its layers of guitars,” Lane says. “Having three guitars is going to make a big difference.”
Outside ARC, Lane continues juggling one of the busiest and most varied careers in Australian music. For many fans he remains closely associated with You Am I, where he has now spent more than two decades. The band is approaching its 30th anniversary and Lane hints there may be archival material released as part of the celebrations.
“We found some old tapes last year,” he says. “There were three songs I didn’t even know existed.”
Like many music obsessives, Lane enjoys hearing unfinished material almost as much as polished records.
“You’re hearing people figure out what kind of band they want to be,” he says. “As a music fan, that stuff’s fascinating.”
His career outside You Am I has included touring with Crowded House and assembling local touring bands for Todd Rundgren. Lane still sounds slightly amazed talking about sharing stages with artists he grew up idolising.
Of Neil Finn, he says: “He has such an incredible ear. We’d walk offstage and he’d know if somebody sang the wrong harmony in the second verse. I’d think, ‘How did you even hear that?’”
Lane also recently toured supporting Augie March and says he’s continuing to chip away at solo material, even if the economics of releasing music remain difficult.
“I write and make music as a form of therapy,” he says. “If people connect with it, that’s great, but that’s not really the driving force behind it.”
Like most musicians in 2026, Lane is balancing creative ambition against rising touring costs, expensive vinyl production and the realities of streaming. Still, he says the alternative — leaving songs sitting unheard on hard drives — feels worse.
“I’d rather put stuff out into the world than sit on it forever,” he says.
The tour starts in Brunswick Heads on Friday 5 June, followed by Brisbane, Newcastle, Thirroul, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, before wrapping up in Perth on Wednesday 24 June. For complete tour & ticket information, visit: livenation.com.au