Crowded House

"Crowded House has been one of my favourite bands since their rise from the ashes of Split Enz. Their demise in the 90's left a huge void in my musical world that until the release of Time on Earth was still unfilled. Since their Together Alone show I'd been denied any chance of a Finn - esque show...Neil cancelled his Try Whistling This show in Edmonton in order to tape an appearance on Sessions on W 54th. Since the TA show, I'd gotten married and had a son. My family are all fans of all things Finn....my son discovered Split Enz through the Wiggles' cover of Six Months in a Leaky boat, and loves playing my laser etched vinyl copy of True Colours. That said, I thought I'd never have an opportunity to see the Crowdies with my family. The show at the Jubilee was a welcome bit of news, and without fail, my family and I had tickets and were counting the days. It was my 6th time seeing them, and not only my wife and son's first CH shows, but my son's first rock concert. Nothing was a disappointment for any of us. For me, seeing the tribute to Paul, and feeling the chemistry not only on stage but between the band and the crowd was nothing short of incredible. What made it even better was the inclusion of Liam as a fifth member of the band. The whole idea of getting to play music with my son is something I look forward to as he gets older. We all sang along with the band as they brought out both the new material and the familiar friends. Matt quickly showed why he was chosen out of 40 drummers to take Paul's place. Liam fit in very nicely providing backing vocals and acoustic guitar, reminding me of the harmonies between Neil and his brother Tim during the Woodface concert. It was a surprise to hear Don't Dream it's Over relatively early in the set....although I guess it was time for something else to take the spot as the closer. The only thing that could have been close to a downer for the night was the absence of "Love You Til the Day I Die", to this day my favourite Crowdies song of all time. After the show we wound up outside the back entrance to the Jube, where the guys would all emerge to board the bus. One by one everyone came out and posed for pictures with us, including Liam. My son proudly informed Neil that he was named after him (Neil is a middle name) and that I had a Split Enz tattoo which apparently Neil's never encountered before. Liam and Matt handled the crowd like old timers. Wonderful songs, wonderful musicians, and wonderful memories to share with my family. Thanks guys, you were worth the wait!"

"THis review won the Edmonton Journal 'Best Concert of 2007' contest: I don’t see many shows. Mostly because the people I love never come to Edmonton (Mark Knopfler, I’m talking to you.) The other reason is that the older I get the harder time I have dealing with crowds. But when Crowded House came to Edmonton in September, I could not believe I would finally get the chance to see my favourite band. I’d been a fan of the Finn Family since Split Enz (yes, I’m that old), but had never had the opportunity to see Neil and Company in concert before. When I took my seat amongst all the bald heads and dye-jobs, I assumed the folks who would come to see this rather introspective band would be above the rudeness that plagues other rowdier concerts. Not so. The couple in front of me felt it necessary to kiss every time Neil started another song. Yes, love is grand, but when a PDA replaces my view of Neil Finn’s face with the puckering profiles of two middle-aged exhibitionists, I wanna kill. And then there was the 16 year old sitting next to me with the camera phone. She filmed the entire show, which meant I had a bright square of light directly to my right at all times. Assuming for the moment she could not possibly be a fan of a band that has not had a hit since the early nineties and does not have a shy one, a cute one, a crazy one and a gay one, I can only surmise that she was filming for the benefit of youtube or mystupidface.com. The couple behind me kept making remarks like ‘what, Neil Finn had a solo album?’ (he’s had two, and several as a duo with his brother Tim), and then there was the girl in the balcony shouting VERY LOUDLY for one song in particular, over and over again, as if every other song was irrelevant. It’s terribly disrespectful, and embarrassing. The obsessive fan in me wanted to turn around and politely ask them to leave. After I slapped them of course. I mean, Neil Finn is one of the greatest songwriters of our time (very often compared to the Lennon/McCartney), and it’s a privilege to listen to any one of his songs, new or old. And frankly, if you’re gonna buy a ticket to a concert, shouldn’t you be a fan? And if not, could you please sit far away from me? Or maybe I’m just being a control-freak, and a whiny one at that. It really doesn’t matter where you go or what you do, all crowds have the same annoying components. So there I was, hearing ‘There Goes God’ live, for the first time, and I could not stop focusing on the rudeness around me. But then something happened. As Crowded House played through their list of songs, the room started getting smaller and smaller. By the time Neil sat down at his piano and started singing the very beautiful, plaintive ‘Pour Le Monde’, from their latest album, I was lost in his voice. Toward the end, it was just Neil and me, singing ‘Better Be Home Soon.’ That’s the power of great songwriting: the ability to make everything, every distraction, every problem, fall away. These transcendent moments are what we hope for in music, art and literature. Feeling personally serenaded, I left the concert a few feet off the ground, feeling ‘like nothing matters, in our private universe.’ Crowds? What crowds? I don’t see any crowds… "

"The concert was a blast!! Even more enjoyable was standing outside, freezing my butt off....but I got to meet everyone and get my cd's autographed. Come back soon. "