British comedian Russell Brand vows to flout Sydney’s ‘preposterous’ lockout laws during October tour

British star Russell Brand is returning to Sydney in October.

Brand — the star of movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Me to the Greek and Despicable Me — is an outspoken advocate for civil rights and was aghast at the laws, which came into effect in March 2014 after the one-punch deaths of Kings Cross revellers Daniel Christie and Thomas Kelly.

“They (the Christie and Kelly deaths) … have enabled them (the State Government) to fulfil an agenda that they probably had in the first place,” Brand said.

Brand has vowed to turn his Opera House gig into an act of civil disobedience in protest at lockout laws.

“I would like to know the real reason they are doing it – to stop people assembling, to stop people communicating? Normally, the answer is, in some ways, the interests of the powerful have at some point been inhibited or ­impacted.

“Anything that impairs people’s personal freedom, generally speaking, or collective freedoms or public freedoms I am broadly against.”

Brand said that he would deliberately flout the lockout laws — which prohibit people entering venues after 1.30am and an alcohol service cut off at 3am — at his Sydney Opera House show on October 23. He has a second gig at the Qantas Credit Union Arena the next night, but that venue is just outside the lockout zone.

“We will be keeping our venues open way beyond the time of any curfew, we will be serving whatever drinks people want way into the night and we will consider it our duty as citizens of a free planet to stay up way past everybody’s bedtime til we are so tired we all start crying just to defy this preposterous law,” he promised.

Alcohol-related violence was a familiar scene in Sydney’s entertainment precincts before lockout laws were introduced in 2014.

But the laws have had a dramatic impact on the number of people flocking to areas like Kings Cross.

 Brand was equally outspoken on the Australian Government’s stance on marriage equality.

“I think when a country doesn’t allow same sex marriage it’s signalling to their own population and to the world that there are kind of prevailing medieval belief systems,” he said.

“It’s sort of embarrassing.”

But Brand said he was looking forward to making a return visit to Sydney — and expressed a desire to meet Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

“Clover Moore, that’s a great name,” he said. “Is she a villain or a hero?”

“Independent, Sydney has an independent Mayor – how did she get in?” he said. “That’s fantastic. I want to meet her when I am there, I would love to meet her and learn more about her.”

And it seems the admiration is mutual.

“I’m glad to hear Russell is a supporter of independent politicians and progressive policies,” said Cr Moore.

“He obviously has a lot in common with Sydneysiders.”

Brand said his stand-up tour, Trew World Order would examine the many facets of the word freedom.

“Well I think Trew Freedom is the freedom from tyranny of our own minds,” he said.

“You are talking to a person who for a long time had substance abuse issues and I had an unhealthy obsession with fame and then an obsession with sex and I think freedom is connection, a sense that you know who you are and where you are going because you are free to be in the moment.

“To me it is the removal of as many layers of bullsh**t and nonsense that cloud us as possible.”

The English comedian encouraged any Sydneysider dissatisfied with current government, social and economic issues to be proactive.

“Get involved, whatever it is you are experiencing and whatever it you are feeling there are thousands of people just like you that feel the same thing and if you communicate and organise you will be astonished by how much power you have.”

Source: The Daily Telegraph, James Gorman, July 15^th 2015