For the first time, iconic rock singer-songwriter Paul Kelly will sing his nostalgic Christmas ballad How to Make Gravy at the 86th Carols by Candlelight at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

Known for its regular lineup of Australian singers performing traditional Christmas ballads to a captive audience of 13,000, this year Kelly will rock out with award-winning drummer and musician G Flip, whose album Drummer was nominated for best rock album at the ARIAs.

Having won a massive 17 ARIA Awards and been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997, Kelly’s Gravy debut – a message from a prisoner who can’t be home for Christmas and released in 1996 – is now recognised as an Australian classic.

He’s got dozens of YouTube performances of the song online, with the most recent version, in 2021, a compilation of everyday Aussies miming his emotional lyrics.

“Kelly is not just Australia’s greatest songwriter … his songs dig deep into the country itself: how it feels, looks, tastes, sounds,” says Vision Australia.

Some go so far as to say it’s Australia’s official Christmas song.

For LA-based rising star G Flip, who grew up in Melbourne and started drumming at just nine years old, Vision Australia says “G Flip is becoming the role model they never had growing up”.

Dominating the music industry with sold-out Australian tours and a first headline tour in the USA, G Flip will no doubt bring new excitement to the Bowl, joining the Australian Girls Choir, the National Boys Choir and Melbourne Gospel Choir, Marcia Hines, Patti Newton and the cast of Grease The Musical.

“I love Christmas, it’s my favourite holiday and I’m so stoked to be in the country and to be able to hit the stage and celebrate and get festive!!,” they said.

“G Flip hopes that their one-of-a-kind sound and sensibilities might ultimately set off a shock wave of inspiration, empowering people everywhere to embrace their truth with absolute abandon,” says Vision Australia.

Carols by Candlelight, which is also being broadcast live on Nine from 8pm on December 24, is the charity’s biggest annual fundraiser, with 100 per cent of profits from ticket sales going directly towards supporting close to 2000 families whose children are blind or have low vision.

Gates open at 4pm on Sunday for what is expected to be another sold-out show.

From humble beginnings in 1938 with a 30-strong choir, two solo performers and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Band performing at midnight, Carols by Candlelight has grown “into an institution of Christmas magic”.

You can bring in picnic blankets, cushions, umbrellas, collapsible prams, food and drink (no Eskies or alcohol), with candle kits and glow sticks available for sale (you can’t bring your own candles).

Street parking in and around the Bowl (Linlithgow Avenue and St Kilda Road) is extremely limited so trains, trams, Uber/taxis and buses are better options.

You can download a copy of the Herald Sun Song Book here (Kelly’s lyrics are not included).

The annual Australian Christmas tradition of coming together and singing Christmas carols at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl has been running for decades. Photo: Getty

Hosted by Nine’s Today team of David Campbell, who is hosting for the 10th time, and Sarah Abo (for the first, and who co-anchors Today with Karl Stefanovic), the pair will introduce all the regulars back to the stage, and some new faces.

The so-called “Carols family” of David Hobson, Marina Prior, Silvie Paladino and Denis Walter, Simon Gleeson (and daughter Molly) will sing some of the classics.

Star of the hit TV series Nashville, Clare Bowen, with her husband Brandon Robert Young, as the duo BOWEN * YOUNG are performing with Timothy James Bowen.

Soul artist, Wils’n, Sheridan Adams and Courtney Monsma, who play lead roles in Wicked The Musical, Virginia Gay, Australian world music star Mitch Tambo and the 2023 ARIA Award winner Emma Memma are also rolling into town for the big night.

Also on the line-up are Thndo, returning with fellow cast member of RENT: The musical, Calista Nelmes, Casey Donovan, Mitch Tambo, Irish-born Australian performer Bobby Fox, Australian singer-songwriter and actress Bonnie Anderson, Indigenous singer-songwriter Jess Hitchcock

As well as the casts of the top musical productions GroundHog Day, Miss Saigon and A Christmas Carol.

And guess who, straight from the North Pole? Santa Claus himself.

Carols by Candlelight will be broadcast live on Nine and 9Now from 8:00pm AEDT on December 24 (there will be two replays on Christmas Day at 1pm on Nine and at 7pm on 9Gem)