29 August 2025 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, words by Bec Harbour – pictures by Nino Lo Giudice
Let’s face it, Paul Kelly is a national treasure and should be our official poet. Coming up through the Melbourne pub scene with The Dots and later The Messengers, Kelly’s catalogue spans indie-rock to a gentler folk-story telling sound. And just like his music, his crowd ranges and spans generations.
Tonight, at Brisbane Entertainment Centre (BEC) the nights entertainment kicks off with Fanny Lumsden. Lumsden is all about these big arena shows and she tells us right off the bat how awesome her and her band are finding these shows. Mind you they have only done one other but semantics, right? I caught Lumsden at Bluesfest and was immediately brought into her world that is a little country and a lot crazy entertaining so I was very happy to see her again.
Lumsden and her band came out to ‘Rawhide’ smiling and waving after the first song ‘Fierce’ she gave herself a bit of a plug for her merch (I Love Fanny shirts no less) and continued charming the audience to bits. The early crowd were genuinely charmed by Lumsden and were doing arm waves and getting ready to switch the phone torches on just be her asking!
Fanny Lumsden – BEC – photos by Nino Lo Giudice
A too short set by Lumsden with ‘Land of Gold’, ‘Great Divide’ and ‘Look At Me Now’ (which I believe is new) and finishing up with ‘Dig’. During the set she said most of her band were family so it was only apt that they exited with ‘We Are Family’.
I forgot that Lucinda Williams was also on support tonight. I got to be excited for a second time in the BEC stands about this. When Williams and her band came out she looked tiny and frail up on the BEC stage (Williams had a stroke in 2020). However, that voice was as strong and true as ever.
Kicking off her set with ‘Let’s Get the Band Back Together’ and then dedicated her next song to Tom Petty, ‘Stolen Moments’ while holding the whole of BEC in her palm. The next song was also a dedication to a Texan guitarist (whose name escapes me), ‘Drunken Angel’.
Lucinda Williams – BEC – photos by Nino Lo Giudice
Williams spoke about how amazing it was to be on the tour and spoke of Paul Kelly’s song writing and how much she loved it. Following up this interlude was ‘Lowlife’ and ‘Fruits of My Labor’. Introducing the band and then moving into a Memphis Minnie cover ‘You Can’t Rule Me’, Williams let us know which side of US politics she sat on and the crowd cheered her on.
Williams let us know that the last recording that she and her band had done was an album of Beatles covers, when the band struck the chords of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ the crowd let out a collective noise, of recognition and awe of this beautiful version of a much loved song. Second last song of the night was ‘Joy’ then Williams announced her final song, Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ and sung it with strength and determination.
After a small intermission, Paul Kelly came on stage – Kelly sat at a keyboard and played ‘Houndstooth Dress’ and slowly through the next song his band joined him (Firewood and Candles). An anecdote about being in the tour van with The Messengers, driving from Sydney to Melbourne on the Hume Highway and just as they hit the township of Yass, their song ‘Before Too Long’ came on the radio and how they were all so excited and maybe some beers were cracked in the van.
Paul Kelly – BEC – photos by Nino Lo Giudice
‘Rising Moon’ and ‘Careless’ were next then Kelly announced that the next song was a sequel to another song that everyone knew; ‘How To Make Gravy’, introducing ‘Rita Wrote A Letter’ to the crowd. Australian crowds are not particularly forgiving with artists that put new songs into their sets, but this crowd loved the inclusion of the next chapter in a well loved verse.
Three classic Kelly songs in a row, ‘Double Business Bound’, ‘Love Never Runs On Time’ and ‘When I First Met Your Ma’ had the crowd tapping their toes and singing along. ‘Harpoon to the Heart’ and ‘Every Day My Mothers Voice’ the latter a beautiful duet with Jess Hitchcock who was doing backing vocals for the tour. Shakespeare‘s ‘Sonnet 18’ put to music and beautifully done and rolling into ‘If I Could Start Today Again’ kept the set going into ‘They Thought I Was Asleep’ a wistfully sad song about being a kid in the car and listening to an interaction between his parents about something sad.
Paul Kelly – BEC – photos by Nino Lo Giudice
The eponymous ‘From St Kilda to Kings Cross’ was next and ‘All Those Smiling Faces’. There were some band introductions at this point and then the next song ‘To Her Door’ had the crowd singing along (the verse about working in a cane field was omitted). ‘Northern Rivers’ and ‘Our Sunshine’ followed up next and then ‘Dumb Things’ which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Then ‘How to Make Gravy’ and ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ slowed the pace down for the shows end and people singing to both these songs shows just how much Kelly has entwined into the Australian consciousness. After a short break the encore was ‘Going to the River with Dad’, ‘Leaps and Bounds’ and ‘Meet Me in the Middle of the Air’.
Paul Kelly – BEC – photos by Nino Lo Giudice
With a career spanning 40+ years, nothing was left out. There was enough of the radio friendly but with a bit of new, a bit of old and a bit of beautiful whimsy. Kelly managed to make an arena feel like an intimate show.
