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By: Jake Ebdale

Artist: Crowded House - To the Island Tour (Ft Reb Fountain)

Date: Friday 19th March 2021

Venue: Spark Arena, Auckland, NZL

Neil Finn and Nick Seymour finally return as Crowded House, continuing their nearly 40-year Australasian love affair as the loveable lads who nearly conquered the world. Though a far cry from the original trio (Paul Hester sadly passed away in 2005), this new iteration includes Neil’s sons Liam and Elroy Finn, as well as keyboardist Mitchell Froom, who gave the band much of their trademark colour as producer of the first three albums. If there’s anyone who can give this band new life, it’s these guys.

Opening with the magical ‘Weather With You’, belting out harmonies that only Finn family members could (though I’d love to see Tim up there), the boys don’t let up, playing at least 10 Crowdies classics in a row. The good vibes are nearly overwhelming. A sold out crowd is a wonderful thing to see in these shitty COVID times, and the sheer jubilation that thousands of singing humans dare to create is one of life’s great pleasures. Just experiencing people and instruments and dancing and drinking - all that good stuff - you can’t take it for granted anymore. Surely us Kiwis are the envy of the world’s music-loving population right now, and who better than Crowded House to kick us back in level 1?

With their seventh album on the way and first in 11 years, Dreamers Are Waiting, the band gives us a small taste of new material throughout the set, including the two singles, ‘Whatever You Want’ and ‘To the Island’. The former is quirky latter-day Neil at his best, unassuming and bass heavy with a really cool instrumental coda, while ‘Island’ is a throwback to the sing-alongs of Woodface. It’s good, very much in line with Lightsleeper, Dizzy Heights and smatterings of Try Whistling This, still all underrated gems.

So, the set. There was a lovely duet with Reb Fountain, who was brilliant as opener – her latest self-titled album was one of 2020’s best, and ‘Samson’ was a brooding winner live. Deep cuts ‘Whispers and Moans’ and ‘In My Command’, from Woodface and Together Alone respectively, brought some really dirty, gnashing solos out, with guitars clanging, the music collective sighing with envy. Liam’s abrasive, twisty guitar playing teams perfectly with Neil’s creepiest melodies, bringing something out that was lacking in previous incarnations of the band – true grit, even a bit of swagger. When Neil rocks, he rawks, and Liam eggs him on – the eldest son oozing sweet weirdness, even throwing his Telecaster up in the air and catching it whilst falling down on his back, to rapturous applause. ‘Distant Sun’ still feels like a warm hug from the 1990s, and ‘Chocolate Cake’ is as clunky and darkly humorous as ever.

A great moment was when the majority of the seated crowd stood up for the gentle ‘Four Seasons in One Day’, which threw Neil a curveball. It’s not exactly the grooviest song, but the crowd wanted to sing, like some sort of autumnal hymn – even though it’s allegedly about Melbourne, not Auckland. It was a nice moment, and the band even changed the setlist to keep the crowd on their feet.

The one-two punch of ‘Don’t Dream its Over’ and ‘Something So Strong’, their biggest international hits, again point to how timeless the self-titled debut was, if only for production alone, given even more of an authentic sound live due to Froom’s Hammond organ. It makes you think – maybe this could be a really great reinventing chapter for the band. There’s enough weirdness and wonder for it to really hark back to their heyday, but with Liam and Elroy’s youthful kick.

The closing ‘Better Be Home Soon’ was the icing on the cake. How this timeless music has basically poured out of Neil for over 40 years is hard to fathom, but he still bloody does it.

So, to wrap this thing up, the Crowdies really delivered. It was a real production, and a really special night, classics being played to a packed house. Dreamers Are Waiting, is out in June, and Crowded House play another show in Auckland this Sunday, back at Spark Arena. Don’t miss it.

Review Edited By: Ben Doy