As part of this year's Vivid Sydney Live program, Neil Finn played two nights at the Joan Sutherland Theatre in the Sydney Opera House with an orchestra and chorus made up of Aussie and Kiwi musicians. Mary and I flew up to Sydney to attended tonight's second show. The first half of the set was the entire Out Of Silence album played from start to finish. It was so great to finally hear all these songs live, particularly my favorite tracks "Love Is Emotional," "Chameleon Days," "Second Nature," "The Law Is Always On Your Side," "Terrorise Me" and "I Know Different." Neil was really pleased once they finished playing the album, saying he really enjoyed it.
The second half of the set was a mixture of songs from throughout Neil's career. We got to hear tracks from his previous solo album Dizzy Heights, which also featured strings, with "Divebomber," "Impressions," "Better Than TV" and "Dizzy Heights." With the entire Finn family on stage they also previewed tracks off of the upcoming Neil and Liam album Lightsleeper with "Where's My Room," "Hiding Place" and "Hold Her Close." Then there were the classic Split Enz and Crowded House songs with "One Step Ahead," "Private Universe," "Four Seasons In One Day" and "Don't Dream It's Over," which finished the main set. For the encore a few bars of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" became an improvised cover with everyone singing along, and then they finished the evening with "Message To My Girl." This was such a special and intimate show, and with Neil joining Fleetwood Mac, who knows when we will next get the chance to seem him performing his own material live.
Here's week four of The Infinity Sessions which was the actual recording of Out Of Silence broadcast live online:
For the past two nights I have been at the Melbourne Zoo to see Neil Finn and Liam Finn play two of their three sold out Zoo Twilights shows. Opening both nights was Donny Benet (Kirin J Callinan; Jack Ladder and The Dreamleaders) and his show band. He played a set of 1980s yacht rock and smooth jazz inspired songs. His intros to each song were quite humorous as he took us on a journey with tracks such as "Santorini" and "Konichiwa" from his latest album The Don.
Neil and Liam Finn have recently recorded their first album together, which is due out later in 2018. These shows allowed them to preview some of these new tracks along with old favorites from each of their back catalogues. Joined by the Finn family band, we got similar set lists on both nights. You can definitely hear Liam's influence on the new songs, with "Meet Me In The Air" and "Anger Plays A Part" (Friday only) being the standouts for me. While I was hoping we would get to hear some of Neil's latest solo album Out Of Silence live for the first time, the only track that was played was "Chameleon Days" on Friday night.
The Split Enz tracks got a good reaction from the crowd with the hits "I Got You," "History Never Repeats" (Saturday only) and "Message To My Girl," which included a surprise marriage proposal on stage on Friday night (thankfully she said yes). I really enjoyed hearing the Liam solo tracks "Fire In Your Belly" (Saturday only), "Cold Feet," "Miracle Glance" (complete with theremin solo) and the energy of "Second Chance" and "Better To Be," with its dramatic frozen pause by the band in the middle of the song.
As expected there were a few funny moments at each show. On Friday night there was a walkway in front of the stage, and Neil encouraged people to dance their way across and included commentary on their efforts (the kids really brought it). Neil and Liam were happy to be back in Melbourne and joked about wanting to film a new video for the album at the Royal Woman’s
Hospital that would reenact Liam’s birth (I think Sharon was slightly horrified). On Saturday night the band members gave us zoo facts about meerkats, lemurs and butterflies. Let's just say I don't think all of them were true.
The Crowded House songs constituted a large portion of the set list on both nights. The Together Alone tracks dominated with "Pineapple Head," "Distant Sun" and "Private Universe," followed closely behind by the Woodface tracks "Four Seasons In One Day" and "Weather With You." Everyone sang along to "Don't Dream It's Over" at the end of the set, with the surprise inclusion of "Better Be Home Soon" to close out Saturday night, complete with Liam and Sharon Finn slow dancing together and Sharon dipping Liam. Overall both nights were fun, and it will be interesting to hear the new Neil and Liam album when it is released.
Here's the video for Neil's single "Chameleon Days"
Any incarnation of Neil Finn live is going to be amazing, but getting the chance to see him solo is extra special, especially at a venue as intimate as the Melbourne Recital Centre. Neil played two shows in Melbourne on Wednesday (his birthday) and tonight, and I was lucky to be able to attend with different groups of friends on both nights.
The first half of the set was Neil playing solo, alternating between acoustic guitar and piano. The set lists were really for the hard core fans as he played songs spanning his entire career that I haven't heard live in years. On Wednesday night alone we were treated to the unreleased "Spirit Of The Stairs," solo tracks "Addicted" and "Faster Than Light," the Split Enz song "The Devil You Know" (used to get a baby Liam Finn to sleep) and the Crowded House tracks "When You Come" and "As Sure As I Am." Tonight we had the Finn Brothers song "Only Talking Sense" and a sneak peak at a new one he's working on with Tim titled "Never Return," the Crowded House tracks "Catherine Wheels," "Black And White Boy" and "Love This Life," and solo tracks "Last Day Of June" (dedicated to accountants) and "Try Whistling This." On both nights Neil also invited up a member of the audience to play along with him- Wednesday saw Darrell add some piano to "Anytime" and tonight Kieran played guitar on "Wherever You Are."
For the second half of the set Neil was joined by a mini orchestra, which performed some amazing string arrangements by composer Victoria Kelly, who joined Neil onstage along with Sharon Finn. They began with a fantastic version of the Split Enz track "One Step Ahead" and then focused on the following tracks from Neil's latest album Dizzy Heights (which Victoria did the strings for): "Better Than TV," "In My Blood," "Impressions," "Divebomber," "Dizzy Heights" and "White Lies And Alibis." We also got to hear incredible versions of the solo track "Sinner," the Finn Brothers song "Edible Flowers" (possibly the stand out number of the night), and Crowded House's "Private Universe." The strings sounded beautiful in the acoustics of the venue and just added another dimension to the songs.
The encore contained a couple surprise audience requests with a snippet of "Anyone Can Tell" on Wednesday night, and Neil attempting Tim's Enz track "I Hope I Never" tonight (managing to hit many of those high notes). He finished the evening with the Crowded House songs "Distant Sun" and "Fall At Your Feet." I thoroughly enjoyed both nights and how much Neil varied the set lists. He was in good spirits and humor, sounded great, and was very humble and grateful for everyone's continued support of his music.
Here is Neil playing a live version of the Dizzy Heights track "Lights Of New York" in London:
For the past two nights I have been at Hamer Hall in the Arts Centre precinct to see Neil Finn play in support of his fabulous new album Dizzy Heights. The opening act was Joshua James, a singer-songwriter from Salt Lake City. Accompanied on electric guitar by Evan Coulombe, Joshua played a lovely set of his folk songs as well as a cover of George Jones' "Choices" and even a couple verses of "You Are My Sunshine." Overall he was pretty impressive.
Neil Finn and his band snuck out onto the darkened stage and started off both nights with one of my favorite tracks off the new album, "Impressions." He couldn't resist the urge to do a bit of a Dad joke with his "Stop, Hamer time" line. The set lists both nights featured the majority of Dizzy Heights, which was great to hear live in person for the first time. I particularly liked "Better Than TV," "White Lies And Alibis," "Pony Ride," "Strangest Friends," "Dizzy Heights" and "Flying In The Face Of Love" (only played on night 2). However, the absolute highlight of the new material was the fact that he did "Divebomber" live as I never thought he would attempt it. That just blew me away. Unfortunately there wasn't as much material from his previous solo albums, which was a bit disappointing as the opportunities to hear those songs live in non-solo mode are slim. However, we did get "Sinner" and "She Will Have Her Way" both nights, and another favorite of mine "Turn And Run" on night 1 and the rarely played "Into The Sunset" and "Faster Than Light" on night 2, which were great to hear again.
The rest of the set list was made up of songs from Neil's various bands and projects over the years. There were the usual suspects in the Crowded House tracks "Fall At Your Feet," "Distant Sun," "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Locked Out," and the Split Enz songs "Message To My Girl" (played beautifully on piano with only backing vocal support), "One Step Ahead" and "History Never Repeats" (played on night 2). The Finn Brothers project was represented by "Only Talking Sense," and there were even a couple Pajama Club songs with "From A Friend To A Friend" on night 1 and "Golden Child" on night 2. Although Neil has a new band playing with him everything sounded fantastic, and having female backing vocals really added depth to the songs. The show was also enhanced by the amazing backdrop made by Noel Crombie and Sally Mills and how it picked up the different lighting throughout the evening. As Neil said it was "some next level shit" that came out of a vague request for trippy clouds.
One of the main reasons I love seeing Neil live is that you never know what special things might happen. On night 1 a guy had to wait for a song to finish before being let back inside so Neil made up a little song on the spot about him being locked out of Hamer Hall. There was the usual fun banter between songs with the band and audience on both nights, and a shouted request led to a piano version of the Split Enz song "Strait Old Line" which was so cool to hear. On night 2 Neil demonstrated his American accent for his keyboardist Andrew from New York, and we
learned why guitar tech Rohan (from Te Awamutu) has the nickname of
Digger through a poetic note he wrote that Neil then read on stage.
Neil's chosen method for entering the stage for the encore was to jump and slide across the top of the piano. "I Got You" was a feature of the first encore both nights, but on night 2 Neil ended up inviting people from the audience to join him on stage mid-song, which they did. This then led into a sing along of "Weather With You" as they stayed up there before finally heading back to their seats. The really special moments though were in the second encore with just Neil on stage playing acoustic guitar. Night 1 featured a cover of The Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon," Crowded House's "Private Universe" and the rarely played Split Enz song "The Devil You Know." This was nearly topped on night 2 with the older Crowded House tracks "Mean To Me" and "Love This Life."
Overall both nights were pretty amazing, and although the set lists were similar he did change up the order and around a third of the songs played each night, which made me happy as I'm used to him switching things up on consecutive nights. As I had seats in different parts of the stalls each night I was able to appreciate the lighting on the backdrop when I was further back and also experience being ridiculously close to the stage. Neil really seems to be loving playing with the new band and I know my friends in the States with tickets are in for a treat when he plays there next month.
On 1 November Neil Finn did a webcast from his studio previewing some new songs from his upcoming solo album Dizzy Heights, as well as playing some old favorites such as "Private Universe" and "Kare Kare." It was great to get a first listen of "Dizzy Heights," "Impressions" (which has a hint of the Finn Brothers' "Gentle Hum" in it), "White Lies and Alibis" and "In My Blood" complete with a nine piece string section. This album should be amazing if the webcast is any indication.
Neil has also released a couple songs from Dizzy Heights to preview the album. The first was a video for "Divebomber," a song which is proving to be a bit polarizing among fans. I think it fits in alongside his work on the Rain soundtrack and Pajama Club. Personally I love the cinematic quality of the video and song and find it quite evocative. It was inspired by the 1941 Errol Flynn film of the same name and was shot by Neil on his recent holiday in Greece.
The second song, which he premiered this week, is "Flying In The Face Of Love" which sounds much more like a traditional Neil Finn song.
Mary and I returned to the Palais Theatre tonight for the second run of dates in Melbourne and show number six of Neil Finn and Paul Kelly's tour. A big thank you to my friend Ben for getting us tickets (as well as for Fran and her sister). Since they have been on the road for a couple of weeks I was curious to see how things had evolved since I saw them at the start of the tour in mid-February.
Lisa Mitchell was the opening act again and seemed to be more chatty tonight. She played a couple different songs from the previous nights, including "Bless This Mess." My highlights of her set were "Coin Laundry" and the closer "Spiritus."
Neil and Paul once again emerged onto the dark stage with lanterns and shook hands in the middle before playing Paul's "Don't Stand So Close To The Window." The set list was pretty much the same as the previous two shows I saw, with a couple of changes to Paul's songs, including the addition of "From St Kilda To Kings Cross." You could tell the whole band was much more comfortable with the songs and now able to add their own special touches to each number. A lot of my favorite moments remained: the variety in the selection of songs from Neil's back catalogue, Neil's breathtaking version of "(You Can Put Your) Shoes Under My Bed," and the energy of so many of Paul's songs throughout the set. Neil had a ripper of a guitar solo during "Distant Sun" and Paul's playing of the opening guitar riff on "Don't Dream It's Over" adds a whole new dimension to the song. I feel very fortunate that I got to see three of the Melbourne shows and be able to watch these legendary songwriters perform with each other.
When the Neil Finn and Paul Kelly Australian tour was first announced I was very excited because one of the two original dates at the Palais Theatre was on my birthday! Those shows on February 16th and 18th quickly sold out and they are now doing a total of 7 shows at the Palais in February and March. I'm not sure anyone expected this tour to be so popular, but it's not surprising when you have two of the best singer-songwriters from Australia and New Zealand joining forces.
Lisa Mitchell opened both nights with a half hour set. She was accompanied by Robert Vasey playing keyboards and drums while she switched between acoustic and electric guitar. Lisa's set sounded good and included "Pirouette," "Coin Laundry," "Neopolitan Dreams" and "Spiritus."
Paul and Neil emerged onto the dark stage with lit lanterns to the sound of crickets. They met in the middle, shook hands, and then launched into Paul's song "Don't Stand So Close To The Window." The songs mostly alternated between Finn and Kelly numbers throughout the evening with both Neil and Paul singing parts on each song. The band for this tour consists of Neil on piano/keyboards and guitar, Paul on guitar, piano and harmonica, Dan Kelly on electric guitar, Elroy Finn on drums and Zoe Hauptmann on bass. The amazing backdrops were once again created by Noel and Sally Crombie.
The set list was pretty much the same for both nights I went. I was really happy about the diversity of Neil songs from throughout his career as they played some ones I haven't heard live in quite a while, including Crowded House's "Not The Girl You Think You Are," "She Will Have Her Way" and "Sinner" from his solo albums, and the Finn Brothers' tracks "Won't Give In" and "Only Talking Sense" (which was replaced by "I Got You" on the 18th). As expected they also played the Crowded House classics "Four Seasons In One Day," "Distant Sun," "Private Universe," and audience sing along favorites "Better Be Home Soon," "Fall At Your Feet" and "Don't Dream It's Over."
Many of Paul's songs really lifted the energy in the venue, including "Careless," "Leaps and Bounds," "Deeper Water," "How To Make Gravy," "To Her Door," "Dumb Things" and "Before Too Long." One of the best parts of the set was when Paul and Neil took turns singing one of each other's songs. Paul put his unique interpretation on Crowded House's "Into Temptation" while Neil did an amazing version of Paul's "(You Can Put Your) Shoes Under My Bed" solo on piano. This was my favorite moment of both shows as Neil's voice was just so strong and pure.
As you would expect there were many funny moments of banter. On the 16th, which was the first night of the tour, Neil and Paul joked about having a $100 tip jar for every time they messed up on a song. While Paul complained about having to learn all of Neil's complex instrumentation, Neil worried most about all the words in Paul's lyrics he needed to remember. Neil recounted how he got badly electrocuted at the Palais once and had to be rubbed down by a strong man in the crew. On both nights I thought Paul captured the spirit of Split Enz with his deadpan shaking of the bells on "One Step Ahead." And on the 18th Neil admitted to getting a perm before they shot the video for that song- it was the 80s after all!
We were treated to two encores on both nights, with some fake snow falling on the stage during Paul's "Winter Coat" (I think we wished it was real snow as the heat wave Melbourne has been experiencing made the Palais feel like a sauna). The second encore had a love theme with them playing Paul's "Love Is The Law," the Split Enz classic "Message To My Girl," and a cover of Buddy Holly's "Words Of Love" to finish the nearly two and a half hour set. I'm so happy I got to see these shows, and I'm looking forward to one more return visit in March to see how they sound after being on the road for a bit.
