Goin' Your Way is a live album collaboration recorded by Neil Finn and Paul Kelly during a performance at the Sydney Opera House on 10 March 2013. It was released on 8 November as a stand-alone 2× CD, Blu-ray or DVD; or in a Limited Edition Deluxe version with all three formats. From 18 February to 18 March, Finn and Kelly undertook a joint tour of Australia, they performed tracks from their respective careers, including re-interpreting each other's work. The CD album peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart while the DVD reached No. 1 on the related Music DVD Chart.
Goin' Your Way was recorded on 10 March 2013 at the Sydney Opera House by Neil Finn and Paul Kelly.[1][2] Both artists have a long association. Back in 1980 Finn, as a member of New Zealand band Split Enz, and Kelly, as the leader of Paul Kelly and the Dots, were both signed with Mushroom Records.[3][4] In October 1984 TV music series Rock Arena, hosted by Suzanne Dowling, broadcast Kelly's group performing "Billy Baxter" while Split Enz provided "I Got You".[5]
In 1987 Kelly and his band The Messengers opened for Finn's next group, Crowded House, on the initial dates of that group's United States tour.[3] Kelly and The Messengers then headlined their own US tour.[3] Finn provided backing vocals on "Hey Boys", a duo single by Mark Seymour (of Hunters & Collectors) and Kelly, which was released in May 1992.[6] In 1993 Finn and Kelly had started discussions about a collaborative tour over a social game of tennis – both were living in St Kilda.[7]
By 1998 Crowded House had disbanded and former members Finn, Paul Hester and Nick Seymour (Mark's brother) shared a stage, on an episode of TV series Hessie's Shed.[8] Finn and the show's host, Hester, performed "Not the Girl You Think You Are" with Largest Living Things – the show band, before being joined by Seymour for "Sister Madly" and a version of Kelly's "Leaps and Bounds", which also featured Kelly on vocals.[8][9] In November 2010 Kelly and folk musician Angus Stone covered a Crowded House track, "Four Seasons in One Day", for a tribute album, He Will Have His Way – it was co-written by Neil with his brother Tim Finn (ex-Split Enz, Crowded House). In April 2011 Neil Finn and Kelly co-headlined a show at Red Hill Auditorium in Perth; it was the first music concert at the new venue.[10]
In November 2012 after further discussions about collaborating for a tour, Finn and Kelly announced the first ten dates of their Australia-wide Goin' Your Way Tour for February and March in the following year.[11] Kelly told a press conference that "I sent Neil a list of his songs I wanted us to do, he sent me a list, the same for me. We also went through tracks songs we could do good harmony singing on".[11] They also indicated the support act for those dates would be Lisa Mitchell.[11][12] The tour was organised by Finn and Kelly with Live Nation Australasia by arrangement with Artist Voice.[13] By January 2013 additional dates had been added to the tour without Mitchell supporting.[2]
Finn and Kelly used a backing band of Kelly's nephew, Dan Kelly on guitar, Finn's son Elroy on drums, and Zoe Hauptmann on bass guitar.[7] They started their 20-date tour on 18 February at Melbourne's Palais Theatre and finished at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on 18 March – their fifth performance at that venue.[2] The final show was streamed internationally via YouTube as Neil Finn and Paul Kelly Live at Sydney Opera House.[14] One of the final tracks performed at each gig was a cover version of Henry Mancini's "Moon River" with the chorus "Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker / Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way".[15] The last phrase provided the album's title.[15]
Jon Jobbagy of The AU Review caught their first performance at the Sydney Opera House and noted the stage backdrop was designed by Noel Crombie (ex-Split Enz) and Sally Mill.[16] Jobbagy felt that Finn was the "most versatile musician of the pair" and "their repertoire is colossal so it was basically hit after hit".[16] On 29 July 2013 at the 13th Helpmann Awards Finn and Kelly won the Best Australian Contemporary Concert category for the tour.[13][17] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2013 they were nominated for Best Australian Live Act.[18][19]
Sean Palmer of The Sydney Morning Herald felt the album allowed one to "enjoy these musical stalwarts jamming together".[24] He compared Kelly's "country-tinged voice" with Finn's "blend of Lennon and McCartney at their grandest", while "[t]ogether on stage, they are magic".[24] The AU Review's Justine McNamara was impressed by the "quality of the recording" where "both singers' voices are perfect".[20] Rachael McArthur of Renowned for Sound was disappointed by the band "[t]here is a bad kind of looseness. It feels as though the band has not perhaps had a huge amount of time to learn the 29 songs required"; and Finn's "piano work is at times a bit off".[15] Nevertheless, McArthur "did like the album and enjoyed listening to songs that have become so deeply ingrained in Australian culture".[15]
In the week ending 24 November 2013 Goin' Your Way 2× CD album debuted at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[25] Meanwhile, the DVD version reached No. 1 on the related Music DVD Chart that same week.[26]
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