Crowded House Encore- Sydney Opera House

For Crowded House 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the formation of the band as well as the 20th anniversary of their Farewell to the World show at the Sydney Opera House (which I attended along with over 100,000 other people). To celebrate these milestones and their induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, the band not only remastered and released deluxe editions of all their studio albums, but also announced four exclusive Encore concerts on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt from 24-27 November. These shows sold out super quick as they were limited to 6,000 tickets per night. I was fortunate enough to attend the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night shows, with assorted friends joining me on each night.

Opening each evening was Sydney's own Kirin J Callinan. Having seen Kirin live before I knew it was going to be interesting to see how the crowd reacted to his set. He was a vision on stage with his bleached mullet and tight mustard tank top and grey slacks on Friday night, and sunset colored ombré suit on Saturday and Sunday nights. Joined by a band for most of his set I thought he kept the creepy factor toned down. His singing was quite strong and the band sounded good. The highlight of each night was his last song "The Toddler," which he did solo, shirtless and without any music. He asked the audience to use its imagination as he sang and danced to the beat in his head. It was amazing to watch and by the end I thought he had won over the majority of the crowd.

It's been six long years since Crowded House last toured Australia, and this mini run of shows was quite an exciting prospect for me as a lifelong fan of the band. Each night I managed to stand between 5-10 rows back on the middle-left side of the stage, with excellent views and thankfully a pretty attentive crowd around me who were there to enjoy the concert. Against another amazing backdrop created by Noel Crombie and Sally Mill, each show began with solemn instrumental music and a group of people in brown monk robes slowly wandering around the stage before the band members revealed themselves.

The band started the set each night with "Mean To Me," and after Neil sang "... and the sound of Te Awamutu had a truly sacred ring" he paused with his arm outstretched in the air under the spotlight. The crowd was into these shows from the very start singing along to every song, especially older tracks such as "Something So Strong" "Fall At Your Feet" and "Pineapple Head." I loved hearing one of my all time favorites "Whispers And Moans" each night, and the atmospheric core of the set was the one-two punch of "Fingers Of Love" and "Private Universe," which on Saturday night also included some impromptu Sydney fireworks. It was also good for songs off the last two albums to get an airing as they played "Don't Stop Now" and "Either Side Of The World," where Nick showcased his sashaying skills.

The great thing about Crowded House shows is that you never quite know what may happen or which songs will appear in the set from night to night due to their extensive back catalogue and audience requests (which on Saturday night came via an onslaught of paper airplanes from the front rows a couple of songs in). Between Friday and Saturday night's shows alone there were seven different songs added to the set list. Songs that were played on one or two nights included "When You Come," "Not The Girl You Think You Are," "Nails In My Feet," a very moody "Into Temptation," another of my favorites "Kare Kare," "Hole In The River" (with The Parting Glass at the end), "In My Command," and the rare but much loved "Recurring Dream." Paul Hester was remembered with dedications of "Pour Le Monde" on Friday night and "Italian Plastic" on Sunday. Paul's spirit was certainly channelled during "Sister Madly" with Neil changing around the lyrics and on Saturday night Neil and Nick telling a story mid-song about seeing The Velvet Underground in Paris and sharing a hotel bed.

Tim Finn joined the band towards the end of the set each night and for a bit of the encore. The energy really lifted when he arrived on stage to play "It's Only Natural," "Chocolate Cake" (with Neil on piano and an extended call and response with the crowd), "Four Seasons In One Day" and "Weather With You." On Friday and Saturday night we were treated to "How Will You Go," which I'm sure hasn't been played live since the early 1990s. Another special treat on Saturday night was hearing them play the majority of "There Goes God," during which someone threw a black bra onto the stage. This reminded Neil of Paul saying that Crowded House were a "fun, but safe" band. "Only the top half" said Neil as he threw the bra at Nick, who proceeded to headbutt it. Neil also talked about how Tim was a very encouraging big brother who told him he could do anything (and didn't ever beat him up).

The main set closed each night with a huge sing along to "Don't Dream It's Over" (Matt tapping on the perspex wall between him and Mark on Friday night was pretty funny) and "Distant Sun," which was one of my highlights of the shows due to the blistering extended guitar solos by Neil and Mark. For the encore the band emerged onto the stage by running out in a bit of a race each night. Besides the 1-2 songs played with Tim, they did "World Where You Live," and on Saturday night after persistent requests from a member of the crowd they attempted "Now We're Getting Somewhere" with no rehearsal (it wasn't that bad). The closing song each night was "Better Be Home Soon." On Sunday night Neil threw in a verse of Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move" before the final extended crowd singalong to "... home soon." Then we were treated to planned fireworks behind the Sydney Opera House before the band took their final bow and left the stage.

These three shows were absolutely amazing, and it was such a joy to see them play together again and manage the 2 1/2 hour long sets each night. My favorite show of the three I attended was Saturday night as that was the loosest, most classic Crowded House live experience. I enjoyed the little things each night such as Neil and Nick slotting into their normal moves across the stage together, and Neil resting his head on band members' shoulders mid-song. The next generation of Finns were there to assist on stage with Neil's son Elroy on guitar and Tim's son Harper on keyboards for some songs. It was also nice to see some of the old crew members like Arlo and Dugald return to do these shows.

We hung around afterwards and Mary and I managed to get a photo with Nick on Friday night, and on Saturday I was able to tell Mark how much I enjoyed his ARIA Hall of Fame speech where he joked Crowded House are really an American band (an argument I've been making since Matt joined the band). While this may have been the final farewell, Neil did say "And we will meet again" so that is promising. Hopefully it's not another six years before they return to play live again.