Bob Evans says he remembers playing at Corner Hotel 20 years ago as Kevin Mitchell back when he was 19 years old and fronting Jebediah. Evans adds that he never imagined he'd be back decades later, sharing the spotlight with his mate Josh Pyke for two hours worth of acoustic hits. They kick off with Pyke's Make You Happy and, as we hear the voices and guitars blend, we know we're in for a special time. The joy continues with Nowhere Without You by Evans. 

We're all supposed to have received downloads of two new Evans and Pyke duets, but there's been a technical glitch. Evans asks for a show of hands, does a rough count and then observes, "Three out of 700? That's shithouse." But the songs are anything but. Desperate sounds like melancholy Finn Brothers and What The Future Holds reinforces that impression, the pair's voices interlocking with near-biological precision.

Pyke takes the lead on Evans's Sadness & Whiskey, a song he says inspired him to propose to his wife — his rendition is stunning. Pyke thinks his own The Summer is up next, but he needs to recheck his setlist and then retune his guitar, so Evans starts Someone So Much (his own) without Pyke. "Now we do The Summer," says Evans. We chime in on the "whoah whoahs", and there's some nice harmonising on the guitars.

They've been playing rock-paper-scissors to choose who gets to close the first set each night and Pyke is the undisputed master, although there's a tense moment tonight when they both come up rocks. Eventually Evans cedes the stage and Pyke leads us in a word-perfect singalong of The Lighthouse Song.

"Intermissions become part of your life when you approach middle age," Evans says after the break. He performs Friend and Wonderful You and we can't believe how amazing his voice still sounds. Returning to the stage, Pyke gives us Private Education, with Evans providing tight harmonies. Evans laments how hard it is to learn Pyke's songs, with their verbose lyrics; still, he does a more-than-decent job on Pyke's Leeward Side.

Then Pyke's Lines On Palms segues into I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) and suddenly we're all at a drunken karaoke session. "The Proclaimers are the best Scottish band to come out of Scotland," jokes Evans. He starts to say something else, but stops. "Was it a metaphor, a simile or an analogy?" Pyke wants to know. "All of those things, wrapped up in a really shit story," says Evans. Instead he just plays Happy Tears and it's beautiful. From there it's an onslaught of harmonica and singalongs: Pyke's Memories & Dust, Evans' Don't You Think It's Time? and Pyke's Middle Of The Hill.

"Melbourne is the fucking best, you know that right?" says Evans as they walk on for their encore. Of course we do. Not many of us seem to remember Not The One by Basement Birds, but those who do sing along splendidly. There's a crowd-pleaser to finish and the ambling harmonies of Lennon-McCartney's Two Of Us send us happily "on our way back home".