Crowded House- Intriguer Tour

Last night after viewing Kevin's exhibition I headed down to Rod Laver Arena for the sole Melbourne date of Crowded House's Australian tour in support of their latest album Intriguer.  I had the best tickets I have ever had in my life for this concert- front row and center.  The opening act for the evening was the lovely Oh Mercy.  They started with "Hold Out Your Hand" and played other unreleased songs in their set including "Confessions," "On The Run" and "Stay Please Stay."  It was good to hear "In My Stride," "Broken Ears," "Lay Everything On Me" and "Keith St," which has just been released as an EP.  They closed their set with "Get You Back" and seemed to get a good reception from the building crowd.  It's such great exposure for them to be on this tour and I hope they gain some new fans along the way.

Crowded House took to the stage and started with "I Feel Possessed" and then launched into "When You Come."  The whole set was a fairly even mix of songs from all their albums.  Neil and Nick were in good humor and had amusing banter going on throughout the night.  I thought the tracks from Intriguer really stood out- "Amsterdam," "Either Side of the World," "Archer's Arrows" and "Isolation."  Of the older songs I was very happy they played "Whispers and Moans," "Love You 'Til The Day I Die," and "Locked Out."  The majority of the crowd stayed seated for most of the show, except for the two people next to me and some girl behind us who decided to jump over their chairs and stand up front with them.  This was my one annoyance during the night as she occasionally obscured my excellent view at times (I should have called security on her).  Everyone on the floor did eventually get up for "It's Only Natural" and stayed standing throughout the encore.

As expected at a Crowdies gig, some songs took unexpected turns.  In the middle of "Private Universe" Neil started to sing a snippet of "Black and White Boy."  During the encore, "Weather With You" became an epic medley with them covering portions of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax," Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing," and Mark Hart doing Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou."  Some people in the crowd started to sing "Mean to Me" and the band picked it up in the second verse and completed the song.  The final number of their over two hour set was "Better Be Home Soon."  It was good to finally see them live again after two years and hopefully Melbourne won't have to wait so long for a return visit.