Paul Dempsey

On the hottest night that Melbourne had seen in quite some time, there was a great sense of anticipation among those gathered at the Corner to see Paul Dempsey play the songs from his debut solo album Everything Is True.

The crowd, which no doubt consisted almost entirely of fans of his much-loved band Something For Kate, were treated to solid support slots from local singer-songwriter Leena and Parallel Lions, the new band from The Art of Fighting's Ollie Browne. Both acts received respectful attention, but it was not until Dempsey – who must surely be the tallest man in Aussie rock - loped out on stage armed with his trusty Maton acoustic that some serious cheers was heard.

Dempsey played all eleven songs from Everything Is True, as well as a few of his trademark obscure covers (The Boss’s Atlantic City and Gillian Welch’s Wrecking Ball were the highlights for me), leaving room for a solitary Something for Kate number – Stunt Show from Echolalia.

Looking as dapper and floppy-fringed as ever, Dempsey seemed relaxed and jovial, even shedding his cerebral demeanour long enough to banter with the crowd about that nights footy results. Admittedly he followed this by chastising himself for being ‘so populist’ and dedicating the next song to mathematician Alan Turing, but it was still nice to see him loosen up a little.

With an all-star backing band, the Everything Is True track list stood up beautifully on the live stage, with subtleties being drawn out of quieter ones like Safety in Numbers and the haunting Man of the Hour, while the rockier numbers (Fast Friends, Ramona Was a Waitress) benefited from the backing of Dallas Crane’s rhythm section. Cheers went up for the opening chords of Take Us To Your Leader, possibly because the crowd thought it was the similarly-progressing SFK fave You Only Hide (or was that just me?).

Delicate renditions of Bats and Out The Airlock - surely one of the best songs he has ever written - also received warm receptions. One the whole however, the new tunes were greeted with a fairly subdued response from an audience preferring to nod along quietly rather than bounce around in the way that they may have done to Electricity a decade or so earlier.

The passive nature of the crowd was commented on several times by Dempsey ("You’re all a bit quite tonight! Has the heat gotten to you?’’), who seemed a little bemused by his maturing audience. It was certainly not a sign of disinterest from the crowd; in fact quite the opposite – one of those gigs where mid-song chatter is shushed at for all angles like it’s match point at Wimbledon.

But then, all of a sudden towards the end of the show, something happened that sparked everyone up quick sticks. After casually mentioning that today was in fact fifteen years to the day since Something For Kate played their first gig, Dempsey flashed the cheeky smile of a man with something up his sleeve and gave an ‘out you come!’ gesture towards the side of stage. On cue, Something for Kate’s bassist Stephanie Ashworth and drummer Clint Hyndman shuffled out and took up their familiar positions beside and behind their long-time frontman, causing the previously docile audience to promptly lose their shit completely.

After a little false start the trio were all smiles as they launched into Pinstripe, perhaps the most anthemic number in the SFK back catalogue. Clint and Stephanie then scurried back off stage as quickly as they had appeared, amid a barrage of shouts for more SFK favourites. "Hey it’s not a Something for Kate gig. That was just an anniversary present" Dempsey said with a grin, before adding "as much for us as it was for you". A loud request for Born to Run, a favourite cover of Dempsey’s, was also playfully shut down with "it’s not a Bruce Springsteen concert either!", before he wrapped things up with a ripper sing-along version of Theme From Nice Guy.

Although another SFK song or two would have gone down a treat, it was a wise move to keep this portion of the gig brief, as any more old tunes from the band would had left everyone with the memory of a nostalgic reunion show rather than the showcase of Dempsey’s solo work that his excellent debut album deserved.

That said, I have to admit that this moment was the highlight of the night – a genuine surprise shared with a room full of people to whom it meant equally a much.

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