The 62-year-old will start his tour in the Top End at Darwin’s Entertainment Centre on November 4, with other venues including Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, the lawns of MONA in Hobart and the Sydney Opera House Forecourt.

The Adelaide performance comes towards the end of the Australian leg of the tour, on November 22.

Adelaide-born Kelly is one of the Australia’s foremost songwriters, having won 10 ARIA Awards and released a string of hits including “To Her Door”, “Dumb Things” and “Before Too Long”. However, his recent release Life is Fine is his first number-one album on the ARIA charts in nearly 40 years in the business.

Life is Fine is an original pop-rock album, reminiscent of Kelly’s classic ’80s records, and follows an album of funeral songs made with Charlie Owen and a recent EP of Shakespearean sonnets.

“I was keen to make a record that was a real contrast especially to the records last year – the Shakespeare record and the funeral record. I wanted to come out with something that was complete contrasting,” he recently told AAP.

In a video (see below) accompany the release, he said Life is Fine was “as close to a normal record as I’ll probably get.”

“It’s an upbeat, colourful, full-band record, lots of rock ‘n’ roll and pop elements … it was a lot of fun to make and hopefully it’s a lot of fun to listen to as well.”

The album features the voices of his frequent collaborators, Vika and Linda Bull, and the same band that featured on his recent collaborative project, The Merri Soul Sessions.

Along the Australian tour he will have some special supporting artists, with American folk legend Steve Earle and Sydney band Middle Kids opening for him in Adelaide. Aussie band Busby Marou will play support in Darwin, Cairns and Townsville, and for the New Zealand shows.

Tickets for the tour go on sale on August 28.

-with AAP

PAUL KELLY TOUR DATES:

Nov 4 – Entertainment Centre, Darwin

Nov 7 – Convention Centre Great Hall, Cairns

Nov 8 – Entertainment Centre, Townsville

Nov 9 – Great Western Hotel, Rockhampton

Nov 11 – Riverstage, Brisbane

Nov 12 – Regional Botanic Gardens, Coffs Harbour

Nov 14 – Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre, Tamworth,

Nov 15 – Entertainment Centre, Newcastle,

Nov 17 – Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne,

Nov 18 – MONA Mainstage &Lawns, Hobart, TAS

Nov 19 – Sydney Opera House Forecourt, Sydney,

Nov 22 – Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre, Adelaide

Nov 25 – Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, Perth

Nov 29 – Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, NZ

Nov 30 – Wellington Opera House, Wellington, NZ

Dec 1 – Civic Theatre, Auckland, NZ