Dan Kelly

The day’s last swath of sunlight was still brightening the room as Jacky Winter (aka Phil Gionfriddo of Bowerbirds, Dynamo, and formerly Spencer P. Jones’ backing band) performed his support set. His sharp, yearning vocals collided with frayed guitar riffs on his own material as well as the Kinks’ ‘Big Black Smoke’. The highlight was ‘She’s Not Kidding ‘Round’, a timeless-sounding tune he co-wrote for Jones’ 2007 album Fugitive Songs.

The odd act out on the bill, the young Melbourne five-piece Rat Vs. Possum, provided its usual barrage of percussion, with two to five members drumming at a time. Looped vocals and melodies surfaced here and there, but instead of so much drumming anchoring the songs, it only made them more nebulous. And despite the catchy ‘Jungle Pills’ and strong vocal harmonies later on, the 45-minute set overused rhythm and repetition to diminishing effect.

Previewing his finished third album – the follow-up to 2006’s ARIA-nominated Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth – Dan Kelly announced he’d be treating the new material as an experiment. That means the versions that followed won’t necessarily match the album versions, but the sold-out crowd was appreciative nonetheless. With the same ruffled voice and wry way with words, Kelly also explained each song with an anecdote.

The opening ‘Gap Year Blues’ featured Kelly on acoustic guitar with keyboardist Dale Packard of Ground Components, while the next song ushered in the other half of Kelly’s band: Augie March drummer David Williams and Ground Components bassist Indra Adams.

The Fountain Of Youth track ‘Fire And Theft (The Landscape Gardener’s Dream)’ painted Kelly as a sort of art-rock singer-songwriter, and he revisited that album for the curse-laden ditty ‘Drunk On Election Night’ and the R&B-licked ‘I Will Release Myself (Unto You)’. Newer entries included ‘I Was A Classical DJ At Dandenong Station’ and ‘Grown-Up Solution’, the latter featuring Gionfriddo on acoustic guitar. Another was inspired by Michael Jackson’s death but then became about Bindi Irwin. Kelly instructed the crowd to sing the refrain, “Ooh ee Bindi and me,” somehow transcending kitsch.

Eschewing an encore and by now wielding an electric guitar, he finished up with ‘Dan Kelly’s Dream’, with Rat Vs. Possum playing various percussion while Kelly took a somewhat free-association approach to the lyrics, and ‘Summer Wino’ from 2004’s The Tabloid Blues. By now striking upon a loose, rollicking sound between glam and garage, Kelly lamented that it was already time to call it a night. “We were just starting to relax and play music,” he said. Still, the set boded extremely well for the new album. Mission accomplished.

by Doug Wallen