27/05/2024
Go Mr. Kelly!!
Legendary musician Paul Kelly comes out in support of saving the Crown & Anchor Hotel – calls pub a live music ‘university’
The Crown and Anchor has been a crucial part of the Adelaide music scene and wider culture for around thirty years. It’s fostered musicians, songwriters, bands, crews, and managers by providing an environment where they can develop their skills.
It is worth noting that Adelaide has been a heavy hitter in terms of its contribution to Australian music in general. Many successful artists cut their teeth in pubs and bars. You don’t learn how to be in a band and work with an audience by doing a course. You learn on the job. Venues such as The Cranker are our universities.
I strongly support The Crown and Anchor continuing as a music venue. To see it go would be to lose our history.
Yours sincerely, Paul Kelly, singer-songwriter.
On behalf of the Save The Cranker campaign, we thank Paul for his kind support. We also recognise his bandmates, nephew Dan Kelly, and the late great Spencer P. Jones (both Cranker alumni), and his management.
Paul Kelly, who was born and raised in Norwood South Australia, is one of Australia’s greatest musicians. The prolific songwriter has 28 studio albums under his belt and has written many hit singles including: To Her Door, From St Kilda To King's Cross, Dumb Things, Before Too Long, and How To Make Gravy. Kelly was formally recognised by the city of Adelaide for his achievements with his own City of Music Laneway in 2022. Paul Kelly Lane runs from Flinders Street to Pirie Street (behind the Adelaide Town Hall.
This is not the first time Kelly has made a stand for an iconic live music venue or Australia’s local live music ecology. In 2010, the beloved songsmith, who has lived in Melbourne for decades, gave a speech on the steps of Melbourne’s Parliament House at the landmark Save Live Australian Music (SLAM) rally in support of Collingwood’s The Tote Hotel.
An Officer of the Order of Australia since 2017 for ‘distinguished service to the performing arts and to the promotion of the national identity through contributions as a singer, songwriter and musician', Kelly was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997 and honoured with the Ted Albert Award in 2011 for outstanding services to Australian music, one of the highest accolades in the Australian music business.
