Kate Langbroek

There are some guests where the conversation begins before the microphones are even turned on, and Kate Sobrano is absolutely one of them.

This is a slightly unusual episode of No Filter, a very personal one, because Kate Sobrano and I already know each other, and I think you can feel that intimacy almost immediately in this chat.

What unfolds is less a formal interview and more two women sitting down together to talk honestly about creativity, ambition, ageing, marriage, motherhood, music, and what it actually costs to build a life as an artist.

We talk about the opportunities Kate turned down, the career highs and heartbreaks, the pressure of constantly reinventing yourself and why, at nearly 60, she feels more certain of who she is than ever before.

There are stories about Melbourne in the 80s, punk music, motherhood, Carly Minogue, Tom Cruise.

coconut cake and the strange intensity of surviving four decades in the spotlight while still remaining entirely yourself.

It's also funny, theatrical, emotional and completely unpredictable because this is Kate Sobrano.

I am looking forward to this so enormously, not just because I think you're a true ornament to this country, but also I have a lot of love for you.

And that comes through a personal relationship that we'll touch on later.

Some of the listeners will already know and some may be, oh.

What could it be?

Kate Sobrano.

Leave them hanging on a thread, darling.

Leave them hanging.

Welcome to No Filter.

I heard Rikki Lee say to you, you don't want to show how the sausage is made.

Yes.

And on stage she has a lot of what you have on stage, which is this –

incredible giving of herself you have this the the first time i saw you on stage which strangely though i've seen a lot of gigs and i've said this to you before i hadn't seen you i think i'd seen you as part of lineups or whatever but i've never seen you as a solo artist right

And when I saw you, it was with your tour that you did with the symphony, with the orchestra.