Neil Finn & Friends - 7 Worlds Collide 2 – Dingwalls, London
As a follow-up to the star-studded charity concerts staged in New Zealand 7 or 8 years ago, last Christmas Neil Finn invited a bunch of musical peers (and their families) to celebrate the New Year in New Zealand. Whilst there, they also put his new recording studio Roundhead through its paces by recording a double-album ‘7 Worlds Collide: The Sun Came Out' - due out the end of August with all proceeds going to Oxfam.
The guests on the record seem pretty fantastic: Johnny Marr, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway from Radiohead, most of Wilco, KT Tunstall, plus most of the Finn family, and local New Zealanders Bic Runga and Don McGlashan from the incredibly underated Mutton Birds.
Tonight was a seemingly impromptu album launch – announced and ticketed only the week before – at the tiny Dingwalls with a max capacity of 450 people. Despite lots of rumours swirling about different guest appearances – this was really a one off-show for a cracking core band that combined the rhythm section from Wilco - John Stirratt on bass and drummer Glen Kotche - with Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien and drummer Phil Selway (who actually played very little percussion – more keywords, guitar and lead vocals on two songs) with Neil Finn covering lead vocals plus some guitar and occasional keyboards. They were also joined on a couple of songs by Mr KT Tunstall, drummer Luke Bullen.
Appropriately enough the show kicked off with Crowded House’s “Distant Son” – which gave the whole project its title. The rest of the set was drawn from the forthcoming 7 Worlds Collide ‘The Sun Came Out’ album – so it was a credit to the audience that a dozen songs that no one had really heard before were treated with hushed reverence.
It’s always tricky to judge things on first hearing, but highlights for me included the poppy “Too Blue” written by Johnny Marr and Jeff Tweedy , Neil Finn’s own “All Comedians Suffer”, and Don McGlashan’s “Girl Make Your Own Mind Up” – which sounded like a classic pop tune in the vein of Paul McCartney’s Eighties solo material.
A surprisingly nervous Phil Selway took lead vocals for quiet acoustic numbers “Ties That Bind Us” and “Witching Hour”. Whilst Wilco bassist John Stirratt took lead vocals on his own composition “Over and Done” – a delightful country tinged number in the vein of his sole Wilco lead vocal performance A.M.s “It's Just That Simple".
As I remarked to my friends Rachel and Caroline: you can really tell a top class band when the non-singing members could be lead vocalists in their own right. Stirratt also provided impressive harmony vocals through-out the night, injecting enthusiasm and relishing bouncing through a set of not-often played songs.
One of the best songs of the night was the Jeff Tweedy written “You Never Know” that sounded like very much the Wilco song it’s become. A strange one this: it resulted from the 7 World’s Collide sessions and is included on ‘The Sun Came Out’, but a slightly different version – the exact same recording but with Neil Finn’s parts removed – is also included and issued as the first single on the new Wilco album ‘Wilco (The Album)’. Regardless – it sounded great tonight with Neil Finn doing a pretty convincing Jeff Tweedy impression on lead vocals.
Main set closed with a great version of Crowded Houses “Private Universe” that made excellent use of the multiple drummers on stage offering intertwining percussion.
Sadly the band returned for just the one encore, but what a cracker it was: kicking off with Split Enz “I Got You” had the whole place singing along. The band was then joined by a friend, the mysterious Garth, on ukulele for a delicate reading of The Beatles “Something”. Neil Finn seemed to relish the crowd sing-along, as he then conducted the audience like an orchestra, encouraging harmonies for the show closing “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Weather With You”.
Again – it would have been great for another encore, but just one small quibble for an otherwise fantastic opportunity to see some of the world’s top musicians in such an intimate setting. Kind of like I imagine backstage jams or late night studio sessions might resemble.
Setlist:
Distant Sun
Too Blue
Little by Little
Ties that Bind Us
Learn to Crawl
Girl make your own mind up
All Comedians Suffer
Witching Hour
Over and Done
You Never Know
Tibetan Blue
Private Universe
Encore:
I Got You
Something
Don't Dream It's Over
Weather With You
The guests on the record seem pretty fantastic: Johnny Marr, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway from Radiohead, most of Wilco, KT Tunstall, plus most of the Finn family, and local New Zealanders Bic Runga and Don McGlashan from the incredibly underated Mutton Birds.
Tonight was a seemingly impromptu album launch – announced and ticketed only the week before – at the tiny Dingwalls with a max capacity of 450 people. Despite lots of rumours swirling about different guest appearances – this was really a one off-show for a cracking core band that combined the rhythm section from Wilco - John Stirratt on bass and drummer Glen Kotche - with Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien and drummer Phil Selway (who actually played very little percussion – more keywords, guitar and lead vocals on two songs) with Neil Finn covering lead vocals plus some guitar and occasional keyboards. They were also joined on a couple of songs by Mr KT Tunstall, drummer Luke Bullen.
Appropriately enough the show kicked off with Crowded House’s “Distant Son” – which gave the whole project its title. The rest of the set was drawn from the forthcoming 7 Worlds Collide ‘The Sun Came Out’ album – so it was a credit to the audience that a dozen songs that no one had really heard before were treated with hushed reverence.It’s always tricky to judge things on first hearing, but highlights for me included the poppy “Too Blue” written by Johnny Marr and Jeff Tweedy , Neil Finn’s own “All Comedians Suffer”, and Don McGlashan’s “Girl Make Your Own Mind Up” – which sounded like a classic pop tune in the vein of Paul McCartney’s Eighties solo material.
A surprisingly nervous Phil Selway took lead vocals for quiet acoustic numbers “Ties That Bind Us” and “Witching Hour”. Whilst Wilco bassist John Stirratt took lead vocals on his own composition “Over and Done” – a delightful country tinged number in the vein of his sole Wilco lead vocal performance A.M.s “It's Just That Simple".
As I remarked to my friends Rachel and Caroline: you can really tell a top class band when the non-singing members could be lead vocalists in their own right. Stirratt also provided impressive harmony vocals through-out the night, injecting enthusiasm and relishing bouncing through a set of not-often played songs.
One of the best songs of the night was the Jeff Tweedy written “You Never Know” that sounded like very much the Wilco song it’s become. A strange one this: it resulted from the 7 World’s Collide sessions and is included on ‘The Sun Came Out’, but a slightly different version – the exact same recording but with Neil Finn’s parts removed – is also included and issued as the first single on the new Wilco album ‘Wilco (The Album)’. Regardless – it sounded great tonight with Neil Finn doing a pretty convincing Jeff Tweedy impression on lead vocals.
Main set closed with a great version of Crowded Houses “Private Universe” that made excellent use of the multiple drummers on stage offering intertwining percussion.
Sadly the band returned for just the one encore, but what a cracker it was: kicking off with Split Enz “I Got You” had the whole place singing along. The band was then joined by a friend, the mysterious Garth, on ukulele for a delicate reading of The Beatles “Something”. Neil Finn seemed to relish the crowd sing-along, as he then conducted the audience like an orchestra, encouraging harmonies for the show closing “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Weather With You”.
Again – it would have been great for another encore, but just one small quibble for an otherwise fantastic opportunity to see some of the world’s top musicians in such an intimate setting. Kind of like I imagine backstage jams or late night studio sessions might resemble.
Setlist:
Distant Sun
Too Blue
Little by Little
Ties that Bind Us
Learn to Crawl
Girl make your own mind up
All Comedians Suffer
Witching Hour
Over and Done
You Never Know
Tibetan Blue
Private Universe
Encore:
I Got You
Something
Don't Dream It's Over
Weather With You
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