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Neil Finn at 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. 7/18/02
Neil Finn
has been crafting great pop songs since before I was born.
From the mid 70s, when as a teenager he joined his brother Tims
band Split Enz, through his days in Crowded House, to his recent solo career, he
has always shown great skill for writing unforgettable melodies.
This show in Washington D.C., part of a short North American tour
promoting his latest release One All, spanned every part of his long and fruitful career.
After a
great opening set by Ed Harcourt, Finn took the stage alone with an acoustic
guitar and belted out the Crowded House classic When You Come.
It had been four years since he had done any length of shows in the
United States, and it was obvious that he wanted to make up for lost time.
His voice was in great form, and his ace backup band (including
singer/songwriter Lisa Germano and ex-Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Steinberg)
did great on both the old and new material.
They seemed to be willing to try anything, from the old Split Enz song
One Step Ahead to stretching out and improvising new changes to other
songs. A great example of this, and
the highlight of the main set, was Pineapple Head, a song from the last
Crowded House album. Steinberg had
a long solo eventually using the upright bass as percussion ending with
a kiss on the instrument before leading the rest of the band back into the song.
Finn also took a turn at the piano, attempting to play the old Vernon
Duke standard I Cant Get Started via cell phone to his father in New
Zealand; the song was successful, but his father was not home!
The main set ended with rocking versions of the hit Split Enz song I
Got You and She Will Have Her Way, one of the highlights of his first
solo album Try Whistling This.
At the start
of the encore, he noted how it had been a long time since hed been in
Washington and said he was stretching the encores to make up for this absence.
He then proceeded to play ten more songs, basically turning it into
another set! Guitarist Shon
Sullivan played one of his own compositions and Finn goaded Germano into playing
one of hers as well. The encore was heavy on Crowded House material, from the
crowd sing-along Weather With You to Fall At Your Feet, where he
pulled an audience member from the crowd to sing the harmonies.
Music by Neil Finn can be purchased at Amazon, Insound, and CD Universe About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
