I’ve watched Keith Urban’s musical career from almost the start. From the early Tamworth Star Maker win in 1990 to his first album, his release as part of The Ranch and then the solo albums that followed. I’ve been lucky enough to see his career go from strength to strength in the live arena as well. In Brisbane Keith was the guitarist in a pub band called Rusty and the Ayres Rockettes which you couldn’t escape in the eighties. I saw The Ranch perform in venues holding about 200 punters and then his arena debut as support to LeAnn Rimes in early 2002. Fast forward to the present and last night at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, in front of a capacity 11,000 fans, I witnessed Keith’s full US show and I’m here to say, this is one hell of a show.

The 13 semi’s waiting out front held one of the biggest stages to be fitted into an Australian venue. The reason it’s so big is because of the ramps that come into the crowd ensuring Keith and his band are right amongst the audience. So much so, there were no security barriers around the stage, if audience members wanted to walk up on stage that easily could, although I’m sure the security who are waiting in the wings would have something to say about that. The other major part of the set was the 5 massive video screens that form the back of the stage. State of the art, up close and personal vision that not only featured the band and amazing visual images but also crowd shots with camera placed all over the arena.

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Thank God for the ABC and thank God for Triple J.

They continue to represent Australian music with knowledge and class. The Paul Kelly Tribute “Before Too Long”  in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday evening is testament to that.

A stellar line up of Australian artists assembled for the evening, hand picked by Richard Kingsmill and music director (and Even leader) Ash Naylor. John Butler, The Herd’s Ozi Batler, Missy Higgins, Bob Evans, Claire Bowditch, Adalita, Megan Washington, Paul Dempsey, Dan Sultan, Katy Steele, The Panic’s Jae Laffer and Dan Kelly made up the vocalists for the evening with Ash and Augie March the amazing backing band. With artists and and a band such as this you know you’re in for a night of magic.

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A couple of people were super worried this morning when triple j announced their Paul Kelly tribute gig, Before Too Long. But fear not, Australia’s great Paul Kelly is still alive, well, and probably enjoying some good mexican food (I last ran into him at the incredible Mexican restaurant above The Hopetoun).

The centrepiece of triple j’s Australian Music Month will be the two day Before Too Long tribute, featuring Missy Higgins, Paul Dempsey, Bob Evans, John Butler, Katy Steele, Ozi Batla , Dan Kelly, Clare Bowditch, Jae Laffer, Adalita, Dan Sultan, Megan Washington plus members of Augie March as the backing band and Ashley Naylor from Even as Musical Director.

See, Paul Kelly is kinda of a big deal around these parts, you know…

Paul Dempsey: “The first time I heard Dumb Things, it completely blew me away. So much energy and melody. It just picks you up and tosses you around.”

Bob Evans: “The opening strains of From St Kilda to Kings Cross began to play. It was beautiful – so melancholy and full of nostalgia for places that I had just begun to travel to myself.”

Get your tix for $55.70+bf from Ticketek or from October 14.

In what is shaping up to be a battle royale of critically-acclaimed and widely-adored singer-songwriters, we have Mr. Paul Dempsey and Mr. Bob Evans facing off for the ARIA for both BEST MALE and BEST ADULT CONTEMPORARY ALBUM at the 2009 ARIA’s.

They shall wield their guitars, thoughtful and intelligent lyrics, wit and charm to determine just who is the best in the land.

OK, in reality, they are likely both congratulating each other profusely right now on their respective albums: Paul Dempsey’s Everything Is True and Bob Evans’ Goodnight, Bull Creek!.

Huge shout outs to our other BEST music noms:

• JET – Best Rock Album
• The Cat Empire – Best Music DVD
• You Am I – Greg Wales for Engineer of the Year
• Keith Urban – Best Country Album

…and filmed an enlightening tutorial on the tedium, precision and good humour required in the making of the stop animation clip for Hand Me Downs.

I was down at the shoot and can tell you firsthand, there were thousands upon thousands of still photos taken. Quite a process. And so many clothes! Turns out you can ask Vinnies for literally a ton of clothes and they’ll deliver it to your door. We all sifted through and went home with some good finds.

Watch the Behind-the-Scenes and the resulting ‘Official’ clip.  The digital single of Hand Me Downs is out Aug 28 and includes Bob’s cover of Lily Allen’s Not Fair.

Winter’s premier festival Splendour In The Grass has come and gone for 2009. Weren’t there? Well you missed out didn’t you! So what were the highs? The surprises? The low lights? Just keep reading and I’ll give you my two cents.

Manchester Orchestra
Leader Cheetah
Yves Klein Blue
Miami Horror
You Am I
Paul Dempsey
Bob Evans
more more more…

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Nope, it’s not Chapter 37 of R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet, it’s a much more wholesome affair with Bob Evans readying the clip for Hand Me Downs. The filming took place in an inner-city Sydney warehouse/loft space as these types of things do.

So… that means in a week or so we should have a proper clip to show you. Oh yes, there’s this too…

We’ve got fully streaming audio of Bob’s highly memorable Like a Version of Lily’s Not Fair.

This morning, Bob Evans boldly went into his Like A Version session on Triple J to cover Lily Allen’s Not Fair. That’s a brave man. Listen to his twangy, slowed down take on it with guitarist Ben helping out — it starts at the 4:15 mark.

I shared some photos from Bob Evans’ Pasha Bulker video a few posts back, and since our day at sea the co-directors Johnny Lopez and Richard Ellis pretty much went into hermit mode in their editing suite to deliver us the finished clip. And here we have it!

Some fun facts:

• the fisherman who serves dinner in the clip is actually the owner/operator of the boat, ‘Kimbarra.’ The third actor didn’t show before the ship sailed.
• the directors of the clip hired the trawler simply by going to the Sydney Fish Markets and putting a note on the boat asking the owner to call if it was available for a video shoot.
• an InSound commentator pointed out that the Director of Photography, Borce Damcevski, works with The Wiggles. Awesome.
• …and there wasn’t a toilet on the boat. A long day at sea, indeed.

Go behind the scenes: