Few of the 1000-plus who packed the house for the final show of Paul Kelly's main-centre tour would have been familiar with his latest album, Spring and Fall. No matter.
The prince of Australian troubadour poets brought them up to speed by devoting the first half of his 25-song set to playing the entire album.
His first studio work since '07, it's a "song cycle" of 11 connected episodes in a relationship, which takes us from "our first new year" to "I'm none of your business now" in 37 minutes, with a typical combination of winning melodies and pungent lyricism.
Compositionally, it's his most assured work in two decades, full of hope, sadness and what he calls "little aches and pains", and, dense with resonant references, including to Gerard Manley Hopkins and John Donne, it was deeply satisfying as a concert performance.
