It’s always good to see high profile musicians come together to support a cause, especially when that cause is as important as Youngcare, a group which supports youth with high needs care, who are often placed in aged care facilities, for lack of a better place to put them. Bernard Fanning has been a major supporter of Youngcare for a few years now, and he was the musical director for tonights benefit concert, featuring himself, Kasey Chambers and Whitley.

Whitley comes out on stage first, quite low key, with his suit jacket and big rimmed glasses painting the picture of an intellectual troubador. He moves through his set of acoustic numbers, most of which are new, but the usually stellar sound system at the Tivoli isn’t doing his soulful, low-intensity numbers any favours tonight, as all his guitar plucking and strumming sounds rough. Not that it matters, because the benefit-concert angle and the high ticket price has brought out a different kind of punter tonight, the kind that doesn’t believe in support acts, and certainly not the kind who are yet to feature on the Nova airwaves. Even big single Lost In Time fails to make an impact, as most of the crowd talks over the entire set, and although he battles through a broken string in the last number, you get the feeling that Whitley feels more comfortable off the grand stage of tonight’s event.

It’s a family affair for Kasey Chambers tonight, joined on stage by husband and playing partner Shane Nicholson, and father Bill Chambers, who gave Kasey her interest in music. This reviewer tends to prefer his country with the alt- placed firmly in front of it, but there’s no denying Chambers is a great singer and performer, and there’s lots of great talent up on stage tonight. Not Pretty Enough is gotten out of the way nice and early so the trio can concentrate on their more western numbers, including Barricades and Brickwalls, and the fantastic Rattlin’ Bones. Chambers wide-grinned enthusiasm is returned in full by the packed in crowd, who are thankful to have someone they recognise up on stage, and even a really long story from Chambers about her fight with Nicholson over his upcoming tour with Sheryl Crow and John Mellencamp comes off as cute, rather than indulgent. Bill Chambers plays some slide on a new Nicholson song, from an album which will be released soon, and they finish their set with a cover of Neil Young’s Dance Dance Dance.

After a short speech from Youngcare chairman David Conry, thanking us for our presence and asking us to keep raising awareness of Youngcare’s plight, it’s on with the main event. Fanning comes to the stage, accompanied by usual backup Andrew Morris and multi-instrumentalist marvel John Bedggood (both of whom played with their band The Wilson Pickers in Brisbane last Thursday night), and a drummer and bass player that I unfortunately didn’t recognise. They open with Not Finished Just Yet, and the twangy Hope And Validation. Bedggood plays mandolin for Thrill Is Gone and Songbird gets a huge cheer and the crowd singing along. However, for all the crowd support, the performance so far has been a little stiff and vanilla, with the band playing direct copies of the album versions of the songs.

But Fanning is a consumate and experienced performer, and as he and the band loosen up and begin to really get into the show, so does the crowd. An array of spotlights drops down behind them as they rock it up for The Strangest Thing, and segue straight into Which Way Home?. Unfortunately the naivety of the crowd comes to the fore again, as talking tramples over what could have been a special moment as Fanning plays a piano cover of Sam Cook’s Lost and Lookin’. The rest of the band returns, and Andrew Morris gets to go front and centre for Can’t Steal My Love, a Wilson Pickers song, which sounds a little wrong with drums and bass, which the Pickers don’t have. The band wrap up their main set with Sleeping Rough, and Fanning promises the much-talked-about special guest is coming soon.

It’s the encore which is going to provide the real highlight of tonight’s show. After a short break, special guest Pete Murray takes the stage, to a massive scream from the crowd. He plays a solo acoustic version of Feeler, which has never sounded better, although it’s a little frustrating that there’s complete silence while Murray tells a story about his sister, consdering the verbal trampling which has been going on all night. Fanning and Kasey Chambers emerge, and the three vocalists split a version of Youngcare anthem Watch Over Me, doing one verse each, and sharing the chorus. It’s a special moment, which thankfully most of the crowd are quiet for, although of course some idiots take the chance to shout out stupid stuff while everyone else is quiet – I think tonight’s crowd bordered on offensive at times. The rest of the band, including Bill Chambers, Shane Nicholson and Whitley come out on stage for a big group version of Tom Petty’s You Wreck Me, before Fanning’s band finish with the iconic Wish You Well, and the crowd surge out on to the street. Tonight, it’s been a case of good music and a good cause equalling a great night out.