Dan Kelly – The Tote – 28 July 2024
Review and photos by Craig Eriksson
What better way to spend a Sunday evening than to head out to The Tote in Collingwood to see Dan Kelly with his wonderful band Regional Crisis. Tonight they performed some new and old tunes to celebrate the release of their latest single ‘Burn Up With The Trees’ from their upcoming new album Goldfeels, which is due for release in September.
This show was quite a milestone event:
• TEN years ago, Paul Kelly & his nephew Dan Kelly (DK) played at The Tote in July 2014 as part of the Leaps & Bounds festival.
• TEN years since Dan Kelly (DK) recorded his last album: Leisure Panic!
• TEN years later, DK is back tonight playing at The Tote performing with his long-term bandmates / backing group: ‘Regional Crisis.’
Regional Crisis are:
• Dan Luscombe – guitar/keys/backing vocals (The Drones, The Blackeyed Susans, Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, Spencer P. Jones, Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions).
• Ben Woolley – bass/vocals (Marlon Williams)
• Gus Agars – drums (Marlon Williams, The Vandas, The Gin Club, Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses)
I love The Tote and its story of survival. The Tote has been hosting bands since 1980. Melburnians have seen and experienced some incredible Australian and International live music at The Tote over the past 40 years such as – Paul Kelly, Cosmic Psychos, You Am I, Spiderbait, Even, Hoodoo Gurus, The Dirty Three, Magic Dirt, The Scientists, The Meanies, Silverchair, Jet, The Birthday Party, Beasts of Bourbon, The New Christs … and many, many more.
The Tote has travelled a long, hard and rocky road over the past decade and a half. We nearly saw The Tote close its doors back in 2010, but thanks to a large rally outside the hotel, a “Fair Go 4 Live Music” petition and the government revising the licensing conditions, The Tote managed to survive. Then in 2020, Covid-19 came along which forced the hotel to close. In March 2023, the co-owners decided it was time to put the venue up for sale. Developers were looking to purchase the property with the intention of demolishing the hotel and building apartments. But thankfully as part of a very public and record-breaking crowdfunding campaign to SAVE THE TOTE, Shane Hilton & Leanne Chance along with Melburnians and the wider Australian music community managed to raise a whopping $3M to help buy and save this iconic live-music venue. A remarkable achievement!
Last night at The Tote, DK told the crowd he received a phone call a while back from his fellow bandmate and close friend, Dan Luscombe saying: “It’s about time you made a new album as it’s been nearly TEN years since the last one!” So they got together and started writing and recording a new album called GOLDFEELS.
DK is a talented musician, great story-teller, self-deprecating, unique and very quirky kinda guy and he charmingly engaged with the crowd throughout the show tonight. DK talked about how when he moved down to Melbourne from QLD when he was 22 years of age, he hardly knew any musicians apart from those he was related to and everyone burst into laughter including DK.
DK said it’s great to see an ultra-generational crowd here tonight. Looking around the packed bandroom there was certainly a multi-generational range of punters. Next to us was Dave, who we chatted to and found out organises the Riverboats Music Festival in Echuca. Dave was there with his 7-year old son, Louie and it was Louie’s first gig at The Tote. Louie had also just started learning the guitar and sat crossed legged on the floor in front of us, close to the stage watching in awe as DK performed his magic.
DK commenced the show on keyboard playing the first six songs from his new album, all of which were written on piano. The first song was called Back to The Garden (piano/psych vocals) and got the crowd interested straight away. He then led into another new song called At The Bushfire Benefit (piano reverb vox). In between songs, DK said the new album possesses a nature, bushfire, goldfields, environmental theme (laughed) as he studied Environmental Science years back and he still has a strong passion and interest in this field.
DK’s idiosyncratic perspective and impressionistic storytelling differentiates his music from others. One could describe DK’s music as experimental, enlightening and environmental, mixing a diverse range of styles from alt rock, traditional rock ‘n’ roll to pop. He’s an established and respected singer/songwriter and musician who has previously been nominated for Best Male Artist at a number of ARIA Awards.
The Regional Crisis band is a stellar group of skilled musicians forming a tight and expressive unit. Dan Luscombe (DL) on guitar and keys is an incredibly talented producer, musician and singer. DK mentioned DL had produced the new album. Gus Agars on drums used mallets, brushes and traditional drumsticks to enhance the mood of each song. Ben Woolley on bass and backing vocals, along with Gus on drums, provided a solid foundation for the often ethereal and drifty melodies that make DK’s music so unique and diverse. It was obvious this rhythm section has played together in the past.
DK continued on the keyboards and played several more new songs from his upcoming album – Goldfields Doctor (piano/telephone mic), Golden Shoes = Country Blues (piano reverb vox), Lakes of Menindee (piano reverb vox) and Burn Up With The Trees (piano / telephone mic). On one of these new tracks, DL also played keys with a traditional Hammond organ sound giving the song that warm 70s vibe.
After delivering a good taste of the new album, DK then performed a wonderful cover version of Ship of Fools (piano telephone mic) by World Party. Dan said he used to play this cover back in the early days of his career and it has always been a favourite song of his.
DK then played guitar, swapping with Dan Luscombe who took up the keys as they sang a few old songs from the Leisure Panic! (2015) album. On The Run (guitar reverb vox) and crowd favourite Never Stop The Rot (guitar).
They followed up with Checkout Cutie (Piano/telephone mic) and Step Forward (Guitar) from The Tabloid Blues (2004) album by Dan Kelly & the Alpha Males. DK referenced one of these songs as a Prince-like tune and saw DL on keys impersonating Prince’s high-pitched tone. Tom Carlyon from Dan Kelly and The Alpha Males also joined them on stage playing guitar for these two songs. DK made a joke about Tom looking like a mountain man as he was wearing a driza-bone coat and flannelette shirt.
The evening concluded with Haters (guitars super drifty falsetto vox) from Leisure Panic!
Overall, the evening was a wonderful smorgasbord of music, aided by the two support bands, Salmon Sisters and Think About You, along with the feature artist Dan Kelly’s Regional Crisis. Judging by the crowd’s response, fans can’t wait for the release of DK’s new album Goldfeels on 6 September 2024.