Summer is fading but a night spent along Sydney Harbour at Taronga Zoo is a pleasant way to move into the twilight of the evening and the season. Another sell out show on a Friday night and on offer is the bard of Australia, Paul Kelly. Kelly is one to never miss when he is in our town and tonight with his large band of musicians in tow the excitement was palpable amongst the blanket sitting crowd.
Sydney Harbour and the sun once again put on a show that beats any man made fireworks display while Hiatus Koyote came on to warm up the gatherings ears. The four piece from Melbourne featured some intriguing soulful sounds blended with hip hop grooves. The fascinating vocal quality of lead singer Nai Palm perked up some ears and applause was more noticeable then other support acts I have witnessed down here at The Zoo.
Paul Kelly is known for his intriguing collaborations and the list is as wide as it is long. Tonight he is joined by some singers and players that have been long standing friends and musical compadres. Vika and Linda Bull on vocals and assorted percussion, Ash Naylor on guitar, Bill McDonald on bass Lucky Dan Luscombe on the skins and Cameron Bruce on keyboards. From the opening song ‘What You Want’ until the last note of ‘Dumb Things’, this musical mafia from Melbourne were nothing but tight.
The Merri Soul Sessions, in case you had not gotten the memo, is all about different singers adding their voices to Kelly’s songs with some soulful arrangements. Kelly made it clear early on that he would be singing a few himself in case anyone was worried about him taking some sort of back seat, but the bulk of the material was from the new record.
The Bull sisters were rightfully given the chance to get things under way with Vika on the funky ‘What You Want’ and Linda on the soulful, deeper ‘Smells Like Rain’. Kelly advised that rain would be a bit of a theme tonight, but only from the stage because there was no precipitation going to appear from the heavens.
The pilgrimage from blanket to front of stage had begun as people wanted to get close up and personal and sing along and dance. With this gathering of musicians, there was just so much to watch and listen to you wanted to be near them. Kelly invited the striking Clairy Browne out to do a fine reading of ‘Where Were You’ followed by the up tempo swinging of ‘Don’t Let A Good Thing Go’ led by Dan Sultan and with additional backing vocals of the assembled mob kicking it along.
Paul Kelly, now 60 years young, is still the definitive leader and showman of this band. ‘How To Make Gravy’ is not only a crowd pleaser but a stunning piece of song writing. The emotions, the Christmas theme and the melodramatic delivery by Kelly had some of the crowd close to tears as they swayed and sang along. This was a moment where it felt like the gig went into overdrive and we were only eight songs into a 22 set songfest.
This was a night of highlights as these incredible voices brought forth a beauty to not only Kelly’s songs but to some classic southern soul numbers. Kira Puru and Kelly’s delivery of ‘Dark End Of The Street’, penned by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, was heart-warming and Sultan and Brown gave it their all on the Sam and Dave classic, ‘Something is Wrong with My Baby’.
Crowd pleasers were the ensembles sing along to Kelly’s ‘16th Floor’ which never sounded so good and Sultan’s cover of ‘Look So Fine, Feel So Low’. The way the band got behind Sultan on this one it was like hearing Kelly’s old band, The Coloured Girls, filling The Hopetoun Hotel with sound all those decades ago.
Heading into the encore with Vika Bull pulling out all the stops as usual on Sweet Guy, a song she has been doing with Kelly for a while now. As you looked around at the crowd now, everyone had smiles as wide as goal posts. The country gospel of ‘Hasn’t It Rained’ ended the set proper with everyone getting a chance to wail and praise the Lord!
The encores were as scrumptious as the rest of the set list with a fabulous ‘Beggar On The Street of Love’ and a rowdy airing of the ultimate Kelly rocker ‘Dumb Things’. With that, the singers assembled around one microphone at centre stage and gave us a stunning a Capella ‘Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air’ which was met with hoots and cheers which may have spooked the zebras and monkeys from their early slumber.
From his travels from St. Kilda to Kings Cross, and all around the world, Paul Kelly has lost none of his edge and his ability to capture an audience with his words and music. Tonight his friends helped him bring it home in a different way, but no matter how you get to see this icon of Australian music, you never go away disappointed. With smiles and grins and laughter on everyone heading home, Kelly had worked his magic once again.
Paul Kelly and The Merri Soul Sessions Played as part of the Twilight @ Taronga Zoo series on 6 February 2015.
Check out the full gallery from the show here.
