Neil Finn and Paul Kelly live: Better be home to make gravy.

I saw two of Australia's (and New Zealand's) greatest musicians share the stage on Saturday night. It was amazing. Paul Kelly and Neil Finn are beautiful song writers and their voices complement each other. And they show so much respect to one another. I loved it and feel so lucky to have seen them play.

Lisa Mitchell opened the show - her voice and lyrics are dreamy. I really enjoyed her, but the large venue didn't quite provide the atmosphere she deserved.

Neil Finn and Paul Kelly entered the stage to a huge applause and cheering, and the appreciation for the duo continued throughout the show. As expected, it was a greatest hits show. They mixed it up a bit by singing each others songs at times, and providing harmonies throughout. It was beautiful. 

It was a family affair with Dan Kelly on guitar, Elroy Finn on drums and Zoe Hauptmann on bass. Dan Kelly did so well to play those long guitar riffs Paul Kelly's songs are famous for. Neil and Paul alternated on the guitar and piano.

Audience singalongs were encouraged - Better Be Home Soon's long chorus was cause for some friendly ribbing by Paul Kelly - "Who needs a chorus anyway?, he said, quipping that the next song features the word gravy a lot. 

Neil Finn remarked, on a number of times, how many words he had to learn - and Paul told him that at least he only had to learn four chords. The lyrics, both by Neil and Paul, were a reminder of just what great wordsmiths they are. Complicated, alliterative, rambling, poignant. 

The banter on stage was as enjoyable as the music - the pair placing bets on who would "fuck up first" - Neil apologising for leaving out a line, but adding that he sang one that shouldn't have been there. 

Both men were very rock and roll, arms swinging, heads banging, thermos sipping - clearly enjoying playing music - which is one of the reasons I've enjoyed seeing Crowded House play so many times. And finally I saw a full length Paul Kelly show. I have a book of Neil Finn's lyrics - I read it when I want to immerse myself in beautiful words and imagery - and I also have Paul Kelly's book which this show has encouraged me to read.

I took two sneaky photos, but the no photo rule meant I could really sit back and enjoy the show - watching and singing along in awe. 

Thanks for playing, Neil and Paul - it was a privilege. You are two of my wordsmith heroes.

The weekend so far: The Australian Music Prize, cooking, friends and Fonda.

It's such a social weekend, this one. And the week ahead is set to be social too - filled with my day job, a networking event, making a podcast and dinners with friends. I am loving being a social butterfly but I must remember to take time to relax and unwind so I'm not overwhelmed with activity. Must. Pace. Myself.

On Friday night (so cold and rainy), I went to Federation Square with Clare and watched the Coopers Australian Music Prize shortlist being announced by Bob Evans and Clare Bowditch, and saw some great up and coming bands (they were shortlisted) play live. It was good to see the bands' friends and fans come support these bands - cheering them enthusiastically, amd fist pumping. And they were all so stylish. There was a fan-friend of Daily Meds in an amazing yellow sequinned knitted jacket and army green pants - I loved it!

I surprisingly enjoyed the hip hop, especially Urthboy's set (Jane Tyrrell, his companion singer, is wonderful), and want to explore more of it. My favourite performance of the night was Jess Riberirio and the Bone Collectors. It's the first time the AMP has been open to a public audience and I think it worked well - bought great live music to the masses.

The shortlist is as follows:

Flume – Flume

Tame Impala -‐ Lonerism

The Presets – Pacifica

Grand Salvo -‐ Slay Me In My Sleep

Jess Ribeirio & The Bone Collectors -‐ My Little River

Liz Stringer -‐ Warm In the Darkness

Daily Meds -‐ Happy Daze

Hermitude -‐ Hyper-‐Paradise

Urthboy -‐ Smokey’s Haunt

The winner is announced in March, and will receive $30,000.

Yesterday was a domestic day, I love those kinds of days. I got some groceries at the grocer and butcher in my local shopping strip, and came home to cook some meals for the week ahead, plus some meals for the freezer. The house smelled great! I am excited by food.

In one pot there was beef chilli with red kidney beans, tomato, onion, capsicum, zucchini, pumpkin and fresh green chillis. I'll serve it with yoghurt and cheese.

In the other pot there was a curry made from lamb, potatoes, dates, carrots, cauliflower, capsicum, onion, chick peas and garlic, and a home made curry powder of cardamom, cumin, tumeric, coriander, cinnamon and salt, plus plain yoghurt and fresh red chilli. I tasted some curry and it was the best. Sweet, warm and spicy.

You may remember the cute chicken playground I saw painted on the side of a chicken shop. Well I was excited to see this beauty on the side of a florist as I carried my groceries to my car. Isn't it the prettiest?!

At night I went out with Pip - it was a great night. We ate at Fonda in Richmond, and didn't run out of things to say all night. We talked and talked and talked! I found her so interesting. Funny that we have connections aside from blogging too.

I love Fonda - its service is quick and the food tastes light and fresh. A little noisy, but that comes with attracting a hip crowd.

To start, we had baked tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole, and cocktails. I chose the frozen margarita with elderflower and lychee - heaven! I also had horchata - a delicious cold drink that tastes like rice pudding.

Pip had a quesadilla filled with cheese, beans and chorizo (which I later ordered as I was still hungry!) and I had a fish taco and vegetarian taco. I find the fish taco is a bit too much like fish fingers, but it is still pretty good. The vegetarian taco was really flavoursome - lots of avocado, zucchini and corn - I will order two next time. The quesadilla was hearty and rich, I still have leftovers for breakfast!

We took a selfie - I was worried about being too busty in this one.

And an outfit shot. This dress is from ASOS - so cheap and I adore the rose print skirt and the tulle petticoats underneath.

Must get out of bed now - I'm doing a little road trip today, going to see Heidi. So excited. More food is in store, I know it!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Ps: I'd love it I'd you could click like on my photo - I entered it in the Life Flashes photography competition for Donate Life Week - there's a camera up for grabs if I win! Thank you! And check out the other fantastic photos there while you're at it.

 

Bob Evans - he just don't wanna grow up anymore. The interview.

(Picture supplied)

When I turned down a phone interview with Kevin Mitchell aka Bob Evans due to a meeting for my day job, I asked my manager to mark that day in her calendar and remember my high commitment and prioritisation to my day job. That interview would have been a pinnacle in my writing career. I was almost William Miller in Almost Famous. I was almost Paul Cashmere. Only less knowledgable about music and a bit too much of a fangirl to be a proper music journo. I've been a fan of Perth-turned-Melbourne singer songwriter Bob Evans' music for around six years. And then I became a Jebediah fan. Here we are after his show at The Tote.

He's frontman of Jebediah, one quarter of the supergroup Basement Birds and has been a regular on the RockWiz live tour. I once awkwardly got on stage with him to hold his lyrics! A word of advice: don't wear skinny jeans to a concert just in case you need to climb up on the stage. He and Steve Poltz also sent me a tweet with this message.

I am so happy Bob Evans has got an upcoming EP, Double Life, out 9 November, and an upcoming Australian tour, commencing on the same day - see tour dates below. He told me about his latest song, Don't wanna grow up anymore, in an email interview.

"Don't Wanna Grow Up Anymore is pretty self explanatory. The older you get the more responsibilities there are and sometimes it seems like things were easier or better in the past. Everyone is prone to a little nostalgia. For me it's my late teens and early twenties. The weird thing is, I'm much happier now than I was then. That time of my life was full of insecurity and angst. So I suppose there is a tendency to put on rose coloured glasses when we look at the past."

The song features the trademark combination of upbeat pop, falsetto, and just a hint of Jebediah nasal. Lyrically, it's nostalgic and poetic:

"I'm told from the dust of stars we
Came in to this world
And shall return.
It's foolish to try and fight it
Still y'know, I just don't wanna grow up anymore..."

He sings of simple times, being a sun-kissed kid. I asked his what he misses most about his childhood. Kevin says:

"My Dad. I had to think long and hard about this! There actually isn't that much I miss to be honest. The best things about being a kid you take for granted at the time anyway, like the endless potential and possibilities you have. You're not aware of those things. So the only thing I really miss about my childhood is my Dad, cos he died soon after my 20th birthday and he was a really good guy."

In the past year, Kevin's become a dad to a beautiful baby girl. I wondered what he'll be passing on from his childhood to hers.

"There are definitely values that I was brought up with that I will try and pass on to her, like being polite and well mannered and showing people respect. I read to her everyday and I will keep doing so for as long as I can because books were important to me when I was younger and I think kids that read do better at school. I also spent a lot of time outside playing and hopefully I can encourage her to do a bit of that too although I know these days it seems to be dying out a bit."

Kevin's been around the music scene for a while now, more than half his life. He's been playing in Jebediah since the mid 1990s - they were a band that I was pretty scared of, during my Savage Garden days - which I told him a couple of years ago. I asked him if being a rockstar has helped helped keep his youth.

"I'm not sure. I've never felt like a rock star but I'm sure that my occupation has helped keep me young at heart, cos I love it and I love the life it's given me. I definately think there is a link between happiness and holding on to your youth."

I have always enjoyed the visually creative videos and artwork Kevin pairs with his music. Leading up to the release of Don't wanna grow up anymore, teasers of lyrics were alongside nostalgic photos from the 1980s. I thought they were a real treat. I asked Kevin whether he enjoys the visual side of the creative process as much as making music?

"Ha! Not really to be honest. I don't really enjoy any activity as much as making music! I've never really considered myself very good at the visual side of art. I appreciate it as an observer but I'm terrible at coming up with it myself. When I write music I can usually satisfy myself with the end result being close to what my imagination was calling for. With visual stuff that doesn't really happen so much! But I'm glad you enjoyed it!"

Thanks to Kevin Mitchell/Bob Evans for your words, and to Kirsten at Bob Evans HQ for organising!

For more information, visit BobEvans.com.au