Neil Finn & Paul Kelly To Tour Australia Together

As far as Australian audience opinion goes, they're two of the most beloved songwriters to have ever lived and today Neil Finn and Paul Kelly announce that they are teaming up for a tour of Australia in early-2013.

Finn's career has featured a seemingly endless list of stellar high points; he first came to the world's attention when he joined his brother's band Split Enz, before going on to front the legendary Crowded House and then settling into a number of different solo endeavours and band projects in more recent years.

Kelly's career as a solo artist and bandleader has been revered for decades; oft considered one of Australia's true poets and one of the best songwriters the country has ever produced, his lyrics speak of the ways of our in country in a manner that seems so simple but has so much power.

For these shows, which were launched through a press conference at the Sydney Opera House this morning, Kelly and Finn will share the stage throughout the night, becoming members of the same band; a band that will also include Finn's son Elroy on drums and Kelly's nephew Dan on guitar.

Together they will dip into each other's incredible back catalogues and, unsurprisingly, Finn says the biggest issue they have had thus far is figuring out which songs to leave out.

Following today's announcement, Time Off's Steve Bell sat down with the dup to talk about the tour, their songwriting and their relationship. Here's a snippet where Neil learns something about Paul that he didn't know.

Together they play the following dates:

Saturday 16 February – Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Sunday 18 February – Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Wednesday 27 February – Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Friday 1 March – Elder Park, Adelaide
Saturday 2 March – All Saints Winery, Rutherglen
Saturday 9 March – Peterson's Winery, Armidale
Sunday 10 March – Sydney Opera House
Monday 11 March – Sydney Opera House
Tuesday 12 March – Sydney Opera House
Thursday 14 March – Kings Park, Perth

As part of our chat today, Kelly also admited that he didn't enjoy the recent documentary based on him. Check it out below:

Kelly and Finn performed Into Temptation, You Can Put My Shoes Under Your Bed and Leaps And Bounds this morning at the press conference.