A sold-out gig, I initially had a really good view only about twenty yards from the stage, but that’s another story. 😟
And, not that they will be, but if anyone from Ticketmaster is reading this, your new scan-on-entry system sucks. If it wasn’t for Mrs. P and her 5G phone access I think that I would still be outside the gate now waiting for my phone to log in. God only knows how I’ll go on getting in on my own to see Within Temptation at the Nottingham Motorpoint Arena in November…
Liam Finn
Liam Finn (vocals, guitar, synthesiser, percussion)
Sent out to warm-up the crowd, a younger Finn put on an enthusiastic half hour of soloing, playing guitar, faffing about with a synthesiser linked to it, and also a small drum kit.
He talked a lot, sang a bit, and quite amazingly accompanied himself so well that if you weren’t watching you would have sworn that a full band was on stage. He’s clearly a most accomplished musician and technician. Just don’t ask him to catch any drumsticks though…
Setlist: no idea!
Crowded House
The ‘Gravity Stairs’ tour
Neil Finn (vocals, guitar) / Mitchell Froom (keyboards) / Nick Seymour (bass, backing vocals) / Liam Finn (guitars, backing vocals) / Elroy Finn (drums, backing vocals, guitar) / ? (drums & percussion)
Wow! A proper, famous band, and right on my doorstep. How could I resist? And another new venue too. Although I had visited the castle grounds and museum before, this was the first time that I had attended a concert here. And this was also my first outdoor gig since catching The Pogues at Wollaton Park, Nottingham in July 1993. It’s the middle of June and we’ve yet to see anything of the summer, particularly here in Lincolnshire, and so this evening we dodged the showers yet again. Oh, the joys of an outdoor concert…
I knew some of Crowded House’s back-catalogue – their singles in the main – but, to be honest, my interest stemmed from my love of their parent band, the weird yet splendidly mesmerising Split Enz. The New Zealanders were active between 1972 and 1984, and I saw them in 1978 whilst at college in Doncaster. In 1997 founder-member Tim Finn would extend a membership invitation to his younger brother, Neil, and when the Enz finally folded the younger Finn – along with fellow Enzman Paul Hester – was instrumental in building new band, Crowded House. Neil now reciprocated by inviting brother Tim to join, which he did between 1989-91 for the recording of the ‘Woodface‘ album. Since then both Split Enz and Crowded House have performed brief reunion gigs and tours, testament to the quality of their music and the love that fans have for both bands.
And so we arrive at the latest incarnation of Crowded House. Since the band’s heyday in the 1980s and 90s many of the original core members had moved on and the current line-up seems to suggest that a hefty dose of nepotism is the order of the day because half of this Finn Family Band is made up by father Neil and sons Liam and Elroy. Bassist Nick Seymour is a fellow founding member whilst Mitchell Froom on keys has been involved in fits and starts right from the very beginning in 1986. At this point I have to apologise because I didn’t catch the name of the second drummer who stepped up to the main drum kit once Elroy Finn came stage front to play guitar and sing. (If you know his name, please get in touch and I’ll amend the line-up above.)
It was obvious right from the start that the band were having a really good time, and were clearly in awe of the venue. Witty comments about the people sitting on the banks at the back in the shadow of the 11th century castle walls being archers and crossbowmen brought about much laughter. The impromptu humour climaxed after ‘Magic Piano’ with the incident of the doughnuts being supplied by the van at the back of the grounds, leading to Neil Finn asking Seymour, “Are you going to play bass or eat fu**ing doughnuts all night?” Gales of laughter from band and audience. There had also been a funny incident earlier when, in passing, Liam Finn had encouraged a bit of audience banter by declaring that Leeds is better than Manchester because he had enjoyed one of his greatest nights in Leeds. Father Neil asked how so, Liam became very coy, said it wasn’t for parental conversation, then went on to explain that it was to do with re-homing half a dozen greyhounds. Neil then improvised a song, ‘Six Little Greyhounds’ which I have included in the setlist; it will be interesting to learn if this discussion arises elsewhere.
So… the music. The new album, ‘Gravity Stairs’ had been released a couple of weeks previously on May 31st so they were obviously going to be playing some new material. In the event we were treated to no fewer than SIX songs from it, a hefty slice of the setlist, and the rendition of ‘Show Me the Way’ was a world first! The remainder of the quite lengthy (about 105 minutes) set was a wonderful trawl through Crowded House’s greatest hits. I was stunned that the world mega-hit ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ wasn’t held for the encore, but there it was, half an hour from the end. Simply wonderful.
Their singles are so strong that they were able to pepper them throughout the set and still end like a train barrelling out of control downhill. Ping, ping, ping, one hit after another in that final stretch. We even got a brief snatch of Talking Heads‘ ‘Once in a Lifetime’ during ‘Weather With You’! The encore comprised three more smash-hit singles; cue much audience singing and then, after taking the now obligatory crowd photo, they were gone and we made our way to the congested exit. One way out, one way in – that’s how castles work isn’t it?
The evening had ended all too quickly and while it’s impossible to be critical of the band, I was secretly hoping all the way through that Tim Finn might just leap on stage and lead the band in a glorious rendition of the Split Enz classic ‘Six Months In A Leaky Boat’; it never happened. The band does have history when it comes to playing Enz material though, even as recently the previous night when they played a launch show in Shepherds Bush with rock legend Mick Fleetwood guesting on drums as they performed the Enz 1980 hit single ‘I Got You’. Nothing this evening though, dammit! 😠😆
It had been another great night with a troupe of accomplished musicians on the top of their game. Thoroughly enjoyable and worth getting a little wet in pleasant and unusual surroundings.
Setlist: World Where We Live; Teenage Summer; Can’t Keep Up With You; To The Island; Six Little Greyhounds; Fall At Your Feet; Pineapple Head; Show Me The Way; Oh Hi; When You Come; Magic Piano; Private Universe; Thirsty; The Howl; Something So Strong; Don’t Dream It’s Over; Distant Sun; Weather With You/Once In A Lifetime (extract); Encore: Sister Madly; Four Seasons In One Day; Better Be Home Soon
Gigs'n'Stuff 