Paul Kelly, Neil Finn, Lisa Mitchell & Oh Mercy @ A Day On The Green, Rochford Winery Yarra Valley (23/02/2013)
It couldn't have been a better Saturday for an open-air concert at one of Yarra Valley's premier wineries. The sun shone tirelessly, but the 30-plus degree weather didn't stop the masses risking sunburn and heatstroke to bask in the huge combined talents of Paul Kelly and Neil Finn.
The two Aussie icons pulled an enormous crowd to Rochford Winery, and were supported by Melbourne band Oh Mercy and softly-spoken songstress Lisa Mitchell.
Between them, Finn and Kelly have an enormous back catalogue to draw on, and their 2 and a half hour set was still shy of a handful of notable favourites. Hits from Split Enz, Crowded House and Paul Kelly's intimidating anthology of story-telling folk kept the crowd wanting more.
As we arrived with the handful of stragglers also running fashionably late, Oh Mercy were already entertaining the crowds with their hook-laden indie-pop. Front man Alexander Gow was refreshingly modest, mentioning more than once how excited he was to be supporting two of his favourite songwriters.
Oh Mercy treated us to the Triple J hits, such as 'My Man' and 'Stay, Please Stay', and some lesser known tunes from their 3-disc anthology. They provided a sassy soundtrack for settling in, peeling off layers and soaking up the rays.
After a short interval, the lovely Lisa Mitchell graced the stage with her presence, and proceeded to enchant us with a stellar set of her melodic indie-pop. A vision in red, Mitchell was a delight. Don't let her often-hushed vocals deceive you for a minute – the girl can belt when she wants to.
After she'd warmed up and worked up a sweat, she rolled up her sleeves and dove head first into the jangly sounds of 'The Present', a song fitted to the atmosphere of an open-air gig, in case we needed more encouragement for drinking wine on a Saturday afternoon.
She performed all the favourites off Bless This Mess, and saved the stomping pop brilliance of 'Oh Hark' for last, which had a few in the audience up and dancing.
The clear highlights were 'Providence', complete with rolling drums, and 'Walk With Me', a spectacular slow-burning ballad that builds to a euphoric climax. (The latter is where the belting comes in.)
Live, Mitchell's music is more percussive than on record, which is always welcome in a live environment.
The packed green was buzzing in anticipation for the main act, and us lucky few with seated tickets made our way beyond the barricades. The headline stars strode onto the stage casually, exuding the effortless cool you expect from reluctant rock stars. They shook hands before launching into Kelly’s ‘Don’t Stand So Close To The Window’.
What came next was a highlight early on in the piece – a stunning duet of Crowded House favourite ‘Four Seasons In One Day’. Finn took the first verse and chorus, and Paul nailed the second verse, as he does on the cover version he recorded with Angus Stone for He Will Have His Way.
‘Before Too Long’ stormed across the green, ricocheted off the vines and prompted the first sing-a-long of the night. No one was enjoying it more than the dude in a cowboy hat right of stage, rocking out on his air guitar (and not for the last time).
What’s special about this double-billing is the difference between the artists. They have both been blessed with long, luminous careers, receiving critical and commercial success. Their presence on stage, however, is complimentary.
They both have a charismatic swagger. Neil with his shaggy Beatles-esque mop of grey hair is an adorable dork, and Paul is cool as a cucumber with his unassuming but undeniably commanding presence.
Unsurprisingly, this leads to an engaging chemistry in banter between songs – Neil is clearly more interested in a chin-wag than man-of-few-words Paul, who is all about the business of playing songs.
Paul shared with us an insight into the process of learning each other’s songs, saying he enjoyed "studying [the] secret little constructions within them [and] digging into the beautiful clockwork to play them”.
Despite his success and influence, Paul Kelly is eternally humble, and quipped that he had “a lot more homework than Neil cos he only had to learn four chords”. A delightfully self-deprecating joke for arguably the most prolific songwriter this country has seen.
One of the most interesting parts of the show was when each performed one of their contemporary’s songs, having been given “complete control” by the other.
Paul owned ‘Into Temptation’, and Neil took to the piano alone for a soppy version of ‘You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed’. Paul quietly appeared on stage halway through to provide harmonies and harmonica.
A spine-tingling solo version of ‘They Thought I Was Asleep’ by Paul is a memorable moment from the epic setlist, as was crowd favourite ‘You Better Be Home Soon’ (accompanied with backing vocals from the enamoured crowd).
Die-hard Split Enz fans were not to be disappointed, and ‘I Got You’ had many out of their seats. This was followed by a rip roaring version of ‘Dumb Things’, until sadly the pair left the stage for the first time.
Two encores followed, and we didn’t go home before hearing ‘How To Make Gravy’ and ‘To Her Door’.
The Rochford winery must still be echoing with some of the greatest songs of our time, and of thousands of music-lovers singing their hearts out.
Rebecca McCann
The two Aussie icons pulled an enormous crowd to Rochford Winery, and were supported by Melbourne band Oh Mercy and softly-spoken songstress Lisa Mitchell.
Between them, Finn and Kelly have an enormous back catalogue to draw on, and their 2 and a half hour set was still shy of a handful of notable favourites. Hits from Split Enz, Crowded House and Paul Kelly's intimidating anthology of story-telling folk kept the crowd wanting more.
As we arrived with the handful of stragglers also running fashionably late, Oh Mercy were already entertaining the crowds with their hook-laden indie-pop. Front man Alexander Gow was refreshingly modest, mentioning more than once how excited he was to be supporting two of his favourite songwriters.
Oh Mercy treated us to the Triple J hits, such as 'My Man' and 'Stay, Please Stay', and some lesser known tunes from their 3-disc anthology. They provided a sassy soundtrack for settling in, peeling off layers and soaking up the rays.
After a short interval, the lovely Lisa Mitchell graced the stage with her presence, and proceeded to enchant us with a stellar set of her melodic indie-pop. A vision in red, Mitchell was a delight. Don't let her often-hushed vocals deceive you for a minute – the girl can belt when she wants to.
After she'd warmed up and worked up a sweat, she rolled up her sleeves and dove head first into the jangly sounds of 'The Present', a song fitted to the atmosphere of an open-air gig, in case we needed more encouragement for drinking wine on a Saturday afternoon.
She performed all the favourites off Bless This Mess, and saved the stomping pop brilliance of 'Oh Hark' for last, which had a few in the audience up and dancing.
The clear highlights were 'Providence', complete with rolling drums, and 'Walk With Me', a spectacular slow-burning ballad that builds to a euphoric climax. (The latter is where the belting comes in.)
Live, Mitchell's music is more percussive than on record, which is always welcome in a live environment.
The packed green was buzzing in anticipation for the main act, and us lucky few with seated tickets made our way beyond the barricades. The headline stars strode onto the stage casually, exuding the effortless cool you expect from reluctant rock stars. They shook hands before launching into Kelly’s ‘Don’t Stand So Close To The Window’.
What came next was a highlight early on in the piece – a stunning duet of Crowded House favourite ‘Four Seasons In One Day’. Finn took the first verse and chorus, and Paul nailed the second verse, as he does on the cover version he recorded with Angus Stone for He Will Have His Way.
‘Before Too Long’ stormed across the green, ricocheted off the vines and prompted the first sing-a-long of the night. No one was enjoying it more than the dude in a cowboy hat right of stage, rocking out on his air guitar (and not for the last time).
What’s special about this double-billing is the difference between the artists. They have both been blessed with long, luminous careers, receiving critical and commercial success. Their presence on stage, however, is complimentary.
They both have a charismatic swagger. Neil with his shaggy Beatles-esque mop of grey hair is an adorable dork, and Paul is cool as a cucumber with his unassuming but undeniably commanding presence.
Unsurprisingly, this leads to an engaging chemistry in banter between songs – Neil is clearly more interested in a chin-wag than man-of-few-words Paul, who is all about the business of playing songs.
Paul shared with us an insight into the process of learning each other’s songs, saying he enjoyed "studying [the] secret little constructions within them [and] digging into the beautiful clockwork to play them”.
Despite his success and influence, Paul Kelly is eternally humble, and quipped that he had “a lot more homework than Neil cos he only had to learn four chords”. A delightfully self-deprecating joke for arguably the most prolific songwriter this country has seen.
One of the most interesting parts of the show was when each performed one of their contemporary’s songs, having been given “complete control” by the other.
Paul owned ‘Into Temptation’, and Neil took to the piano alone for a soppy version of ‘You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed’. Paul quietly appeared on stage halway through to provide harmonies and harmonica.
A spine-tingling solo version of ‘They Thought I Was Asleep’ by Paul is a memorable moment from the epic setlist, as was crowd favourite ‘You Better Be Home Soon’ (accompanied with backing vocals from the enamoured crowd).
Die-hard Split Enz fans were not to be disappointed, and ‘I Got You’ had many out of their seats. This was followed by a rip roaring version of ‘Dumb Things’, until sadly the pair left the stage for the first time.
Two encores followed, and we didn’t go home before hearing ‘How To Make Gravy’ and ‘To Her Door’.
The Rochford winery must still be echoing with some of the greatest songs of our time, and of thousands of music-lovers singing their hearts out.
Rebecca McCann