Paul Kelly

The encore eased them down with Kelly’s I’m Not Afraid Of The Dark Anymore with the musicians vocally harmonising then moving into a somewhat off-kilter-sounding instrumental passage, rounding off the song cycle that “meditates on time, mortality, friendship and love”.

In a venue that sounded sublime and with music bursting with cultural importance and memories, this was a very special performance.

A quick peruse on Facebook en route to the car unveils a fellow concert-goer’s post that says it all: “Bob Dylan: America’s Paul Kelly”.

Included in this year's finalists are Paul Kelly and James Ledger, Stephen Leek and Carl Vine

Unremittingly beautiful.

"I actually started looking at poems and started picking out poems I liked, trying to put them to music and sing them. But I guess that just got me going with words and music, even though they weren’t my words, and also sort of coming at things from a more sideways fashion than I normally do."