Paul Kelly Making Gravy @ Optus Stadium Parklands
w/ Courtney Barnett, Kate Miller-Heidke, Marlon Williams
Saturday, December 7, 2019
What can be said that hasn’t already been said about Paul Kelly throughout his near 50 year career? He has the storytelling songwriting prowess of Bob Dylan and the stage presence of late era Leonard Cohen, complete with a sister act providing soaring backing vocals. He’s non-apologetic about his love of all things Australia, yet is able to effortlessly weave patriotism with thought-provoking social messages, such as acknowledging traditional owners in a genuine, heartfelt manner or admitting he doesn’t know if Ned Kelly was a good guy or not, because he “wasn’t there”. Paul Kelly is a man in a brown suit you can trust and he brought his Making Gravy Christmas show, a staple of Melbourne summers for the past two years, to Perth for the first time.
What can be said about Optus Stadium Parklands as a venue for music that hasn’t already been said? Well nothing has been said as this was the first time it has been used in such a manner, so here goes. The only existing Stadium infrastructure that was used at this event was the ticketing booths and the train station, if you want to count that. It makes great sense to use the parklands since it is in a central location and well serviced by public transport, but the completely flat terrain meant that many punters were going to miss what was going on. You have to wonder if using the seating and facilities inside the Stadium would have created a better experience for the fans. The drinks selection suggested Gage Roads’ lucrative Stadium contract extended to the Parklands, but at least they were full strength, unlike recent gigs at government-owned venues. It’s also worth noting the confusing recycling conditions – if all drinks sold are in cans, why did the yellow recycling bins say ‘hard plastic only’? Luckily Craig Reucassel (The Chaser) is unlikely to read this.
Enough critiquing the surrounds though, because as a celebration of Trans-Tasman musical success stories in 2019, this show was about as perfect as a live music show gets. Proud New Zealander Marlon Williams‘ long white cloud has been steadily rising since his self-titled debut album was released four years ago, while his bit part in A Star is Born introduced a global audience to his considerable vocal skills, and the upcoming True History of the Kelly Gang may propel him into the stratosphere as long as they let him pick up a guitar in it. He had curtain pulling duties today and he delivered to masses of nomads trickling in with their camping chairs, rugs and eskis in tow. He gave nods to his heritage on a song in Maori language as well as by incorporating Wham’s Last Christmas into his set. He was surrounded by familiar faces in his band, including Dan Luscombe who has been a companion to both Courtney Barnett and Paul Kelly in the past. His closing cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ Portrait of a Man further cemented the Maori Elvis’ effortless ability to captivate.
Kate Miller-Heidke exceeded expectations with her sunset set. A classically trained opera singer, she dazzled with her ability to make her songs sound better live than on record. She had her songs with all the sorries, such as Sarah, which tells a sad tale of a friend going missing at Livid Festival in 1997 and Caught in the Crowd, while she gave licence for her collaborator/husband Keir Nuttall to shred on his guitar and make the band patches on his jean jacket proud during Words. Finishing up with The Last Day on Earth and Zero Gravity, the latter minus the windscreen wiper/toilet brush props from her Eurovision performance, she wrapped up a set that would be hard to top.
What Courtney Barnett lacks in the vocal gymnastics of the two previous artists, she makes up for it in lyricism and the ability to lead a three-piece that captures the energy of those pieces from the original 1990s. Giving equal attention to her two albums and early EPs, City Looks Pretty and Avant Gardener kicked off the jams, before Barnett spoke of how tonight’s headline act influenced her morose masterpiece Depreston. In much the same vein as Kelly has explored countless times, Barnett encapsulates the struggle of her generation to get ahead and chase the increasingly out of reach Australian dream. She soon called out Marlon Williams to join her in a cover of Seeker Love Keeper’s Not Only I, which appears on Barnett’s MTV Unplugged album, released the day before. Belting out Pedestrian at Best to finish, some of the more sensitive ears in the crowd may have been happy to hear the last of Bones Sloane’s inexplicably low bass vibrations.
Before too long Paul Kelly hit the stage on his lonesome, and fingerpicked his way into Stormwater Boys’ track They Thought I Was Asleep. While harmonica issues led to a halt and some impatient words from the inebriated up close, he recovered with his trademark cool and calm. His band joined him for Letter in the Rain, where the sights of Vika and Linda Bull, lead guitarist Ash Naylor and old faithfuls like the sparkly-cravat sporting drummer Peter Luscombe, brother of the aforementioned Dan, promised that the show would be worth withstanding the threat of rainfall for.
His support acts got a chance to hit the stage again, making for many of the night’s highlights, including Miller-Hiedke taking on Kasey Chambers’ parts on When We Are Both Old and Mad and a stunning rendition of Archie Roach’s Charcoal Lane with Barnett, also featured on Barnett’s Unplugged album.
Kelly’s trusty tales about great Aussie fuck-ups soon came after, with only Deeper Water demonstrating that men can be emotionally strong during tough times between Dumb Things, Vika Bull’s show-stopping version of Sweet Guy, and How to Make Gravy and their explorations of negative male traits.
The entire touring entourage soon hit the stage to bring Phil Spector’s jingle Christmas (Baby Come Home) to life to send everyone home satisfied. Causing a mass rain dance, one has to wonder if Spector sat a prison cell somewhere penning step-by-step instructions about how to pull off his famous wall of sound recipe, much like Kelly’s fictional Joe in Gravy.
Here’s hoping the Making Gravy tour becomes a regular staple of Perth summers for years to come because it was hard to find fault in tonight’s celebration.
MATTHEW HOGAN
Photos by Ella Wylynko
