Eddie Rayner's ENZO: The Songs Of Split Enz

It's been over 20 years since those first ENZSO shows where the songs of Split Enz were played by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Eddie Rayner returned tonight to Melbourne's Hamer Hall with ENZO: The Songs of Split Enz. This time there was a smaller 14-piece band including strings and brass, with Eddie on keyboards and piano, Michael Barker (ex-Split Enz and John Butler Trio) on drums and Brett Adams (longtime Tim Finn collaborator) on electric guitar. Performing each of the songs were guest vocalists Rima Te Wiata (Hunt For The Wilderpeople), Rikki Morris and Phil Madsen.

Eddie came out for the first half of the show in his Noel and Sally Crombie designed white suit. He started the evening with the instrumental track "Albert of India." Each of the vocalists took turns singing songs from across the back catalogue of Split Enz, ranging from the later Neil Finn tracks "The Devil You Know" and "I Walk Away" to the more theatrical early Enz songs such as "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Time For A Change."

After the intermission, Eddie emerged in his black House of Crombie suit. They kicked off with "Matinee Iydll (129)" and "Stuff and Nonsense," which Eddie said was buried on the Frenzy album because radio didn't play ballads in the 1970s. Rima Te Wiata added a lot of theatricality to her performances throughout the night. It was Phil Madsen though, who was my favorite vocalist due to his amazing voice and phenomenal versions of "I Hope I Never" and "Edible Flowers," which came out of the last Enz jam sessions in 1999 and was subsequently released on the Finn Brothers album Everyone Is Here. Some of the other highlights for me were hearing "Voices," "Give It A Whirl" and "Strait Old Line," complete with a fantastic spoon solo by Michael Barker.

For the encore all three vocalists performed the songs together. They began with the instrumental "Pioneer" which segued into "Six Months In A Leaky Boat," and then finished the evening with "My Mistake." Overall it was good to hear some different interpretations of Split Enz songs, although I did miss having the Finns singing them as it bordered on karaoke at some points throughout the night.

Music, Melbourne + Me

This afternoon I had the pleasure of checking out the Music, Melbourne + Me exhibition at the RMIT Gallery.  It not only celebrates 40 years of Mushroom Records but also the Melbourne music scene.  As an added bonus a group of us got a guided tour through the exhibition by Peter Green, who has worked with many Mushroom artists including Skyhooks, Split Enz and Crowded House.

As you enter the lobby you see the Pegasus horse from Kylie Minogue's Aphrodite tour.  The first room we went into had various concert posters on the wall along with a huge Skyhooks stage backdrop and a sculpture hanging in the middle of the room that had assorted videos and album covers projected on it.  Along with some old Crowded House and Split Enz posters was a wooden Crowded House burning building with wings sign, which is one of two in existence.

The next room was dedicated to the Melbourne music scene and lists every single music venue past and present on the walls.  There are posters and live photos from different local gigs throughout the years, including the SLAM rally sign.  Another room in the exhibition is dedicated to Michael Gudinski and Ian "Molly" Meldrum with a wall of gold records, some really rare memorabilia from both their collections and a replica desk so the room looks like Michael's office at Mushroom.

The best space in the exhibition though is the costume room, which has lots of great pieces from Kylie Minogue, Skyhooks, Split Enz and Crowded House.  It was such a privilege to see them up close, especially Nick Seymour's artwork on the Crowded House items.  My favorite was probably the iconic red jacket that Neil Finn wore on the cover of Crowded House's debut album.  The other really amazing item was the original album artwork for Conflicting Emotions by Split Enz, which was painted by Noel Crombie.  I had no idea it was such a big painting.

Overall it was a great tour and entertaining to hear all of Peter's stories around working with the artists and the history behind some of the pieces in the exhibition.  If you are in Melbourne check it out (especially if you are a Split Enz or Crowded House fan).  Music, Melbourne + Me runs until 22 February 2014 and it's free!

Musical Interlude: Finn

The Finn family is crazy talented and I love them- especially Neil.

Split Enz: "One Step Ahead"


Crowded House: "When You Come"


The Finn Brothers: "Only Talking Sense"


Neil Finn: "She Will Have Her Way"


Tim Finn: "Out of This World"


Betchadupa: "My Army of Birds and Gulls"


Liam Finn and Eliza Jane: "Long Way To Go"

Sound Relief

I knew it would be a wet day when the sky went black at 10:30 am and the heavens opened up. Thankfully I had a poncho which was the fashion choice of the day amongst the crowd at the Sound Relief Bushfire benefit concert at the MCG yesterday. I arrived as Jet was midway through their set. Once they finished Tash and I located each other in the front arena section as we waited for Melbourne teen Gabriella Cilmi to start. She sang her hit "Sweet About Me" as well as a cover of "Whole Lotta Love." Next on the bill was the first big act of the day, Kings of Leon. The crowd noticeably swelled just as the rain began to fall. Due to the fact they were playing a show later on that evening, they had a short set of four songs and didn't play their biggest here "Sex on Fire" which led to some mumbling in the crowd after they finished.

Next was Melbourne's own songwriting legend Paul Kelly. There were big crowd sing alongs for "Dumb Things," "To Her Door," and the song that mentions the MCG "Leaps and Bounds." Augie March's set started off a bit slow, but picked up at the end with the barnstormer "This Train will be Taking no Passengers" and their bit hit "One Crowded Hour." As the dark clouds came over the arena Tash and I decided to take a food break during Bliss N Eso which was smart because a torrential downpour happened while we were undercover and the stage lost power for a bit. However the rain eased up and the boys were joined by Paris Wells for a song at the end of their energetic hip-hop set.

During breaks between acts we were shown video from the artists performing at the Sydney concert. We got to see snippets from Coldplay (including their collaboration with John Farnham on "You're the Voice"), Hoodoo Gurus, Little Birdy, Josh Pyke, Eskimo Joe, Architecture in Helsinki, You Am I, Icehouse, and The Presets. There were also videos in tribute to the CFA firefighters and of the devastation from the bushfires.

Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson performed a similar set to the one we saw at Homebake and had Troy Cassar-Daley join them for "The House that Never Was." Then is was time for Liam Finn and friends. Liam and EJ Barnes came out and performed "Second Chance" and "Lead Balloon" before calling out the family band- Elroy Finn, Unkle Nick (Seymour) and N-Dog (Neil Finn) for some songs. When "Don't Dream It's Over" started the crowd erupted in cheers and quickly filled the arena for a big sing along. Tim Finn came out to sing "Weather With You" and then Neil finished up with a song dedicated to the firefighters "Better Be Home Soon." It was one of the highlights of the day.

The crowd stuck around for a mellow set by Jack Johnson during which we watched the dark clouds start to come over the stadium again. After he finished the downpour began with much colder rain this time. It continued as Wolfmother took to the stage in front of an excited crowd. I found the set a bit uninspired as Andrew Stockdale is playing the exact same songs from 3 1/2 years ago except with all new band members. I was expecting at least some new material out of them. When they finished there was a joint live feed with the Sydney concert where a video message from Princes William and Harry was aired and a minute of silence held for the victims. Kylie Minogue then appeared on the Melbourne stage and lead everyone in singing "I Still Call Australia Home."

Next it was time for the first big reunion of the night, Hunters & Collectors, who hadn't played together in 11 years. They started their set with "When the River Runs Dry," and played their hits "Do You See What I See?", "Holy Grail," and "Throw Your Arms Around Me" among others. They finished with an encore of one of their earliest songs "The Slab." After the Finn family set in the afternoon Neil and Tim were back on stage with Split Enz. Opening with "Shark Attack" the highlights of the set were "I Got You," "Six Months in a Leaky Boat," "History Never Repeats," and "I See Red."

The final and most anticipated act of the evening was a reunited Midnight Oil featuring current Federal Minister for the Environment Peter Garrett. They began with "Redneck Wonderland" and played their hits "Dreamworld," "Blue Sky Mine," "Beds are Burning," "One Country," "King of the Mountain," "The Dead Heart," "The Power and the Passion," and finished up with "Sometimes." It was an amazing and powerful set to top off a fantastic day of music (despite the weather) and I was proud to be part of the historic 80,000 crowd there at the MCG.

The Return of Split Enz

On June 11th and 12th I attended the Split Enz concerts at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. This short reunion tour around Australia was inspired by their induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame last year. I last saw the Enz in Auckland at the Millennium shows as we welcomed in the year 2000. I never thought I'd get the chance to see them perform live again, so I took advantage of having them play two shows in town and bought tickets for both (and they weren't cheap). The band for this tour was the "True Colours" album line-up of Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner, Noel Crombie, Nigel Griggs, and Malcolm Green.

The first night I was on the floor in the center section, row G. The seats were amazing, and it was lots of fun to be with Fran, Sonia, and Lara. The band has been playing pretty much the same set list at each show, which was as follows:
Shark Attack
Poor Boy
One Step Ahead
Give It A Whirl
Nobody Takes Me Seriously
Jamboree
Double Happy
I Hope I Never
Message to My Girl
Dirty Creature
Stuff & Nonsense
Devil You Know
129 (Matinee Idyll)
Strait Old Line
Pioneer/Six Months in a Leaky Boat
I Got You
What's the Matter with You
I See Red

Encore 1
Talk a Walk
Charlie
My Mistake

Encore 2
Bold as Brass
History Never Repeats

All of us girls were up and standing for the start of "Shark Attack." Unfortunately, the majority of the crowd didn't seem to understand the concept of a rock concert, and remained seated for two-thirds of the show (It was even worse on the second night where some people sat for the whole thing). You could tell which side of the arena bought tickets from the pre-sale because they were the ones standing and dancing throughout the night. I was right at the boarder of those pre-sale seats. At least the band could see us enjoying the show, since everyone else in front of us was sitting. We compromised for those behind us and sat down for the slower songs, but got up and danced for the faster numbers. Thankfully, once they played "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" the entire audience on the floor stood up and stayed that way for the rest of the night. It made the show that much better.

I was really impressed that they did "Jamboree" and segued into the intrumental "Double Happy." I always love hearing the 70s songs. Neil did "Devil You Know" acoustic on guitar and was sounding a bit horse towards the end of it. "Message to My Girl" got a funny intro as Neil talked about walking past his old house in South Yarra (he said they brought tissues along "just in case"). Tim gave a shout out to Caulfield and his "Hasidic Brothers" and then Neil started calling it "Cornfield" for some reason. The other funny/bizarre moment of the night was Eddie and his towel flicking of a female audience member. When Tim called out "Who would like their buttocks flicked by Eddie?" I guess some people just couldn't resist.

The sound of the shows was excellent, and it's easy to forget what great musicians they all are still. Eddie is just a genius on the keyboards, and Nigel plays such strong bass lines. Crombie was his usual self and besides the infamous spoon solo he has added electric guitar to his musical repertoire. They ended the first encore by dragging "Hendrix Crombie" away from the guitar and off the stage. Mal Green traded off with Noel on the drum kits (they have two set up) and percussion. The costumes and backdrops were great and full of typical Enz flare. I think Noel likes texture in his backdrops as they were similar styles to the sheep clouds of the Millennium shows.

For the second show I was on my own- this time in the center section, row D. It was pretty much the same set list as the previous night except for a couple glorious additions. Phil Judd (founding member) seemed to be on Neil's mind because he threw in both "Sweet Dreams" and "Titus." It was fantastic! Tim paid tribute to Phil and said (to paraphrase) that despite their very dysfunctional relationship, they created some great songs together and that the boys will continue to sing them until they're dead.

The other highlight of the night was the frisbee battle between Neil and Eddie. They each had three frisbees to throw across the arena and see who could get them the farthest. Eddie went first, because Neil said "Age before beauty." Each toss got further and further back into the crowd, with both of them eventually sailing their frisbees across the entire floor section to the back of the arena. I think Neil ended up winning by getting his frisbee a few rows further up than Eddie. It was very entertaining.

I had such a great time both nights. Peter let me hang around with him backstage on the second night while he was working. I got a brief glimpse of the band before they changed into their costumes but didn't get to chat with them. I even had a pass to the after show party, but because of public transport issues, I had to leave so that I could get home. I didn't want to get stuck in the city with all those crazy Socceroo fans when I had work the next morning.