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Paul Kelly 'Songs A - Z' The Space Friday 10 June I'm the wrong guy for the editor to have review a Paul Kelly concert - it's like asking a tree what it thinks about the Green Party. Paul Kelly in my view is without doubt the greatest song writer of Australia, and he simply proved it again last night. In the smashing opening night of the 2005 Cabaret Festival, Kelly gave the audience over two hours of his amazing catalogue in his first solo show series in over ten years. Determined to present more than 100 songs over five nights in alphabetical order, Kelly only had enough time to get into the Ds. Appropriately beginning with a ditty about his hometown, Adelaide - that carries a sting in the tail - Kelly leads you on a journey that is largely biographical. He introduces the Bradman song with a story that when he was five, he rode in a taxi with the great batsman. Deeper Water began with a preamble about days at Norwood pool, while Before Too Long was prefaced with a tribute to Steve, who for seven years played the famous rift before he died in '95. Paul Kelly is one of us, and through his vulnerability and respect for the battlers, he writes poetry to music that is sublimely relatable to our own lives - a lazy day at the oval, regret over mucked up romances reflected on by an older and wiser self, and tributes to those who have influenced him. While there is a self-admitted limited number of chords in his canon, Kelly plays more with the heartstrings of his audience. His candour combined with his famous lines delivered in his unique twang left the audience in a state of adoration and thankful to have shared an intimate evening with their hero.  |
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