1998

Neil Finn

Thebarton Theatre

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Split Enz was a highly accomplished cubist band with wonky costumes and a repertoire of angular, elliptical songs when lead singer Tim Finn sent back to Te Awamutu for his younger brother. Enter Kid Eager. Neil Finn. With the sublime melody and harmonies ofI Got You, he showed Split Enz their true colours and propelled them into the Top Ten.

And Neil Finn just kept on going. After the Enz; Crowded House. One of the most successful bands to come from the Pacific rim, gloriously concluded with four albums and a farewell party for a hundred thousand on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

Some wondered, even some inside the band, whether Crowded House wound up too soon. Maybe there was more to do. Maybe their principal song writer, band leader and driving force would get caught in the cul de sac of unfocused solo projects or versions of the Brothers Finn.

Well that was before Try Whistling This (EMI). Any fears that Neil Finn might be McCartney after the Beatles were blown clean away with a collection of songs as brimful of pop invention and musical layering as he has yet produced.

Onstage for a well-filled if not crowded house at Thebarton Theatre Neil Finn is having a fine time. He is heralded by the theme to The Andy Griffith Show then, with a measure of defiance perhaps, he launches in to Last One Standing. The trademarks are all there. The jingle-jangle  acoustic strumming and pattering drum rhythms cresting at the first chorus into perfectly pitched three part harmonies. King Tide follows. Haunting pulsing keyboards are matched with gently keening vocals. The changes come – heavy chords at the bridge and then Finn goes into full cry. The guitar gently echoes that George Harrison vibrato. The White Album is here, there and everywhere but, as ever with Finn- while utterly in the mode- he is never derivative.

After the Crowdie favourite Not the Girl You Think You Are, the Whistling continues. Dream Date -“remove yourself from the past” – his sweet tenor reaching into David Crosby realms while the guitar, rippling with wah wah, toughens into a biting rock sound which, just as it always used to with Crowded House, makes Neil Finn a surprisingly more robust live musician than you expect from the albums. Faster Than Light is encased in solarised wattage, the washes of greens, browns and dense blues designed by Finn’s partner Sharon effortlessly fit the moods and patterns of the music.

This tour is a family affair. Finn’s young son Liam plays a handy second guitar, with Niall Mackin on keyboards doing the fills and links and classy stuff that Mark Hart used to do. After a fine reading of Distant Sun, the stage clears and Finn takes to the piano for a House singalong. The crowd swoons and sways but he can’t get started. he wants to sing Last Day in June but is stuck for lines. Anybody know them ? he calls out, and with instant response a bloke in the second row obliges. He knows them all and Finn, ever more relaxed as the night proceeds, periodically calls him out for further questions. Its Mastermind quips Finn, your special subject The Songs and Lyrics of Neil Finn.

There is nothing big-headed about it. With his olive green shirt,  dark suit and his spiky, cocky-crest hair the singer could be related to that ordinary looking kid in The Andy Griffith Show. The one who turned out to be Ron Howard.

It is a full-on playlist. Try Whistling This sounds majestic. Sinner is larger than disk and, in a return to a galaxy not so far away, Private Universe gets the spacy twelve minute treatment. It is guitar/ keyboard rock at its best. And the rhythm section isn’t too bad either, Robert Moore on bass and Michael Barker on drums laying a tight resonant foundation for Finn’s luminous guitar. The set closes with the old Enz fave, One Step Ahead and a meditative version ofShe Will Have Her Way.

It has been high quality stuff and the crowd loves it. Just as well Finn has saved up some biggies for a long encore. Loose Tongue and Twisty Bass ,two rippers from the new CD, I Got You from the mists of time, Don’t Dream It’s Over– what they call in a New Zealand an enthem- and, rather unexpectedly, Addicted, the oddly confessional little coda to the solo album. “So far, we’ve come so far, “he sings. Neil Finn has a new album, a new band and a new lease of life – and it looks like he’s only just begun.

The Adelaide Review, No. 179, August 1998, pp. 29-30.