Paul Kelly Is Ready for His Biggest Headline Tour Ever

Australian music legend Paul Kelly is still on the up and up, soon to embark on his biggest ever national tour around Australia and New Zealand. 

The tour will come on the heels of Kelly’s 28th studio album, Fever Longing Still. With its title taken from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 147, the album’s dozen tracks once again showcase the versatility and adventurousness of Australia’s own bard.  

“The songs for this record come from the last few years and what struck me about the songs as they started to come together was how they were each a different world to each other,” Kelly said upon the album’s release. 

“I seem to write songs and each one seems to be different to the last and I thought I’d would make a virtue of that. I have the band to do it.”

As ever, Kelly’s band members – Peter Luscombe (drums), Bill McDonald (bass), Dan Kelly (guitar), Cameron Bruce (keyboards) and Ash Naylor (guitar) – are given plenty of room to shine and that they certainly do.  

“I’ve been playing with this band on and off now for many, many years,” Kelly noted. “With Pete up to 30, with Bill and Dan for 20. The two newbies are Cameron and Ash who’ve been playing together for 17 years. So, to me, this record is a culmination of what the band brings to bear on the songs. I think of it as a real band record, they bring different colors to every song.

“You don’t have to worry about whether it holds together or not just because it’s the same sort of group of people playing together. It’s me singing so it holds together but we’re actually trying to make each song really different to each other. I guess that’s really the philosophy of the record.”

Kelly will no doubt showcase the album on the forthcoming tour along with selections from his incredible back catalogue which features Australian classics such as “To Her Door”, “Love Never Runs on Time, “Leaps and Bounds”, “From St Kilda to King’s Cross”, “When I First Met Your Ma”, “Dumb Things”, “Before Too Long”, and “Sweet Guy”.

Another Kelly classic, “How to Make Gravy”, has been adapted into a film by musician Meg Washington and director Nick Waterman and will stream on BINGE from December 1st, making it ideal watching before his 2025 tour.

Supporting Kelly on all Australian dates will be six-time Grammy winner Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and eight-time Tamworth Golden Guitar Award winner Fanny Lumsden, with Aotearoa singer/songwriter Reb Fountain opening the shows in New Zealand. 

Paul Kelly 2025 Australia & New Zealand Tour

With special guests Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (AU shows)
+ Fanny Lumsden (AU) & Reb Fountain (NZ)

Presented by Frontier Touring, Triple M (AU) and Stuff (NZ)