Paul Kelly concerts are celebrations of iconic musicianship that come around yearly, more or less, and because the singer-songwriter was born and raised in Adelaide, it feels like a homecoming – to us Adelaideans, at least.

Because we South Aussies claim him, I get a love vibe from his shows whenever he’s in town, but I think I’m giving into romanticism; my guess is all of his audiences in every major Australian city love-vibes on him too. It’s part of his appeal. He’s so recognisable you don’t want to put him on a pedestal; you want to give him a hearty and heartfelt pat on the back.

Still, when he tells you he used to love swimming at the Norwood Pool, with his dad’s hand under the water holding up his small belly, and he’d look at his bigger siblings in the deep end and think, ‘That’s

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