Live Review: Neil Finn & Paul Kelly, Lisa Mitchell

It's hard to imagine being given tonight's brief to support two such Antipodean legends and not be nervous, but Lisa Mitchell uses it to her advantage, a false start to Coin Laundry gaining her some laughs before she settles and delivers a beguiling set, her voice the key selling point but not that far ahead of her strong songs in the form of Walk With Me, Spiritus and Bless This Mess.

Darkness hits and a beautiful forest backdrop gradually emerges, crickets chirping, as two shadowy figures enter holding lanterns aloft. It's Neil Finn and Paul Kelly, and soon they're strumming acoustics and singing the latter's Don't Stand So Close To The Window, Finn shadowing Kelly's vocals in a manner that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention, before Neil moves to the piano and some more lantern-wielding figures enter the fray – Dan Kelly on guitar, Elroy Finn on drums and Zoe Hauptmann on bass – and offer an incredible rendition of Crowded House classic, Four Seasons In One Day. And so it goes for the next 150-odd minutes, two music legends and strong friends indulging in a form of mutual admiration society for the complete benefit of the besotted crowd before them. Their rapport is easy and genuine as they swap instrumentation – Finn favouring piano and synth for the most part with Kelly largely sticking to guitars – and flitter through their amazing combined catalogues; swapping verses on Before Too Long, entwining their voices during She Will Have Her Way, eliciting incredible group harmonies on Not The Girl You Think You Are, Finn taking the younger Kelly's harmonic role in Careless, trading roles and verses again during a rollicking Leaps And Bounds and so forth, the thrill never abating and the songs never diminishing.

The sheer magnitude of the combined songwriting and musicianship on offer is indeed quite disarming, and when they completely take over one of each other's songs – a spotlit Kelly offering a stunning Into Temptation and Finn replying on piano with a poignant (You Can Put Your) Shoes Under My Bed – the effect is transcendent. It wouldn't work so well without the strong familial band – Dan Kelly in particular getting to show off his considerable guitar chops – but the night is all about the two elder statesmen, who seem to revel in the attention and the freedom of momentarily escaping their respective comfort zones. Highlights of the rest of the night include Private Universe, One Step Ahead, Dumb Things, I Got You, Better Be Home Soon, How To Make Gravy, Distant Sun, the old guy from the crowd dominating Fall At Your Feet, To Her Door, Don't Dream It's Over and Message To My Girl, but it's really just one long, prolonged celebration of two incredible talents, a pairing that truly makes one proud to be Australasian.