Neil Finn - Bush Hall
Saw a fantastic low-key Neil Finn show at the Bush Hall with Nick, Rach and Caroline.
I was curious what form the show would take give Finn had no new record to promote. I was a little worried it may feature a lot of 7 Worlds Collide material - which is a fine record, but having seen that show not so long ago at Dingwalls I was hoping for something a bit different.
Well bit different was certainly what was delivered as Finn announced at the start of the show he was focusing on the "high risk strategy" of airing lesser performed material.
Alternating between acoustic guitar and mini-grand piano - it was awesome to hear stripped down versions of such fantastic songs as "Private Universe" (a spell binding show opener), "Only Talking Sense" and "Try Whistling This".
It was also great to hear reasonably obscure stuff like the fantastic Crowded House b-side "Walking On The Spot".
We also got to hear a few previews of new songs (I guess from the next Crowded House album due in a few months) with the stand-outs "Elephants" and "Amsterdam".
There was also a fair bit of crowd participation - surprisingly organized group harmony on a few songs - and a couple of people even joined Neil on-stage, including a nervous young-ish girl (12?) who played "3 black keys" during "Anytime". Perhaps more impressively Finn recognized a chap in the front of the crowd who got up to play piano with him at a previous show some years ago, so asked if he's like to join him for a song. "Steve" obliged and, at his suggestion, the delivered an awesome "Love You Til The Day I Day". Very impressive.
Closing with a long-run of piano-based tunes, including a lovely cover of Paul Kelly's "Leaps and Bounds" (a long running request through-out the show from a very loud punter) which lead into a couple of the highlights for me: fantastic piano versions of "Mean To Me" and "Message To My Girl". Before the over 2 hour show finished with "Throw Your Arms Around Me".
most of the songs played:
Private Universe
Turn and Run
Only Talking Sense
Try Whistling This
Last Day of June
Walking on the Spot
Into the Sunset
Last to Know
Wherever You Are
Anytime (with audience member)
Love You Til The Day I Die (with audience member Steve)
Faster Than Light
Message To My Girl
Four Seasons In One Day
Into Temptation
I Feel Possessed
Sinner
Twice If You're Lucky
Elephants
Amsterdam
Leaps and Bounds
Mean to Me
Don't Dream It's Over
Gentle Hum
Throw Your Arms Around Me
PS thanks to MelbourneFlower on Flickr for the great photo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/59794835@N00/
I was curious what form the show would take give Finn had no new record to promote. I was a little worried it may feature a lot of 7 Worlds Collide material - which is a fine record, but having seen that show not so long ago at Dingwalls I was hoping for something a bit different.
Well bit different was certainly what was delivered as Finn announced at the start of the show he was focusing on the "high risk strategy" of airing lesser performed material.
Alternating between acoustic guitar and mini-grand piano - it was awesome to hear stripped down versions of such fantastic songs as "Private Universe" (a spell binding show opener), "Only Talking Sense" and "Try Whistling This".
It was also great to hear reasonably obscure stuff like the fantastic Crowded House b-side "Walking On The Spot".
We also got to hear a few previews of new songs (I guess from the next Crowded House album due in a few months) with the stand-outs "Elephants" and "Amsterdam".
There was also a fair bit of crowd participation - surprisingly organized group harmony on a few songs - and a couple of people even joined Neil on-stage, including a nervous young-ish girl (12?) who played "3 black keys" during "Anytime". Perhaps more impressively Finn recognized a chap in the front of the crowd who got up to play piano with him at a previous show some years ago, so asked if he's like to join him for a song. "Steve" obliged and, at his suggestion, the delivered an awesome "Love You Til The Day I Day". Very impressive.Closing with a long-run of piano-based tunes, including a lovely cover of Paul Kelly's "Leaps and Bounds" (a long running request through-out the show from a very loud punter) which lead into a couple of the highlights for me: fantastic piano versions of "Mean To Me" and "Message To My Girl". Before the over 2 hour show finished with "Throw Your Arms Around Me".
most of the songs played:
Private Universe
Turn and Run
Only Talking Sense
Try Whistling This
Last Day of June
Walking on the Spot
Into the Sunset
Last to Know
Wherever You Are
Anytime (with audience member)
Love You Til The Day I Die (with audience member Steve)
Faster Than Light
Message To My Girl
Four Seasons In One Day
Into Temptation
I Feel Possessed
Sinner
Twice If You're Lucky
Elephants
Amsterdam
Leaps and Bounds
Mean to Me
Don't Dream It's Over
Gentle Hum
Throw Your Arms Around Me
PS thanks to MelbourneFlower on Flickr for the great photo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/59794835@N00/
