Dan Kelly seems to be the perennial support act.  If there is a gig somewhere, anywhere in Australia, there is a 63% chance that Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males are supporting.  This time, the support slot was for Augie March’s Australian tour.  As a performer, Kelly would seem to have the goods.  He has a brooding presence on stage that many others would kill for; he was well dressed in his shirt and vest; and he has a quiff of hair that looks like belongs to Elvis.  Kind of Cory Haim circa Licence to Drive, but much, much cooler.

Unfortunately, the performance that Kelly and his Alpha Males delivered at the Hi Fi Bar and Ballroom was generally average and rarely passed interesting.

The main problem with the set was that Kelly’s songs are too long.  They may sound fine as recorded works, there are many fans for Kelly’s songs ‘Summer Wino’ and ‘Pissin’ with the Catman’, but songs don’t always translate live and Kelly must realise that this is the case with some of his songs.  Put simply, Friday night’s set could have been vastly improved by cutting many of the songs by about 30 seconds each.  One need not look further than ‘Mail Order Bride’ to convince Kelly of this.  It all became noise towards the end.  The audience lost interest and it detracts from the overall impression of the set.  Mr Kelly, just end it.  As Billy Madison would say: “T-t-t-today junior!”

Having said that, it wasn’t all disappointing.  When Kelly pulled out the acoustic guitar and went for a more country, quieter feel, this was a better indication of what he can actually deliver live.  Kelly appeared much more comfortable behind an acoustic guitar than an electric and this middle of his set was actually enjoyable.  With catchy, snazzy songs such as ‘Fool for Love’ and the kid’s song about being “uneducated but happy” (possibly called ‘Concrete Mountain’), Kelly was able to craw back the waning attention of the crowd.  How can you not when the latter song made great, fun use of a recorder (a great, fun touch).  Certainly a highlight.
The acoustic guitar was put away again for the ‘Summer Wino’ finale.  This should have been a winner to finish on, except the finish came 30 seconds too late.  A shame.  I really wanted to like Kelly’s performance.  A refinement here and a tweaking there and Kelly can hopefully move from support act to more headlines.