Crowded House

 After a hiatus of 10 years (with a brief reunion for some gigs in 2016), Crowded House are back…with a new line-up consisting of founder members Neil Finn and Nick Seymour, long-time producer Mitchell Froom promoted into the band, and two Finn sons (Elroy on drums, Liam on guitar). We’ve enjoyed seeing Neil Finn solo on a number of occasions, so this was a must-see.

Not what it says on the T shirt

But first, of course, dinner. They’re playing at the TSB Arena, so somewhere nearby seemed appropriate. Where else but Shed 5, Wellington’s premier seafood restaurant? Reservations were duly made. And a good job too, as the restaurant was full! On a Monday night! OK, they probably did know what hit them, and were well prepared for the influx. It would be fair to say that a lot of Crowded House fans are now “of a certain age”, and have accumulated the trappings of that age. Although I’m sure Rosie’s Red Hot Cantina and Bin 44 did a roaring trade as well.

Whilst they had Bluff oysters on the menu, the first thing our waiter told us was that they’d sold out. Bum. I had some salmon crudo to start, and Nicola had king prawn spaghetti, which was exactly as it sounds. We both had market fish (salmon and snapper) mine done with caprese salad, Nicola’s with an Asian-style accompaniment including puffed rice, green beans and pickled ginger. Then, decision time: do we want to see the support act, or pudding? Pudding won, and we’ll have to wait for another occasion to see Reb Fountain.

A short walk across Great Harbour Way, and we effected an ingress to the arena. First port of call was at the merch stand, to pick up a couple of T shirts. Due to the recent covid level changes, a number of the gigs have had to be hastily rearranged, so the dates on the back of the t shirt are, in fact, wrong. Will this make them collector’s items in the future? Probably not. No-one will remember.

The lights went down, and we were off – with crowd-pleaser Weather With You to open, followed by a number of classics, interspersed with new singles Whatever You Want and To The Island, and new material from their forthcoming album, Dreamers Are Waiting, which will be released on June 4^th. They finished up with a rousing finale of Don’t Dream It’s Over, Something So Strong and Distant Sun, before coming back on for an encore of Chocolate Cake, Heroes (David Bowie) and their classic show ender, Better Be Home Soon.

That set list in full:

Weather With You
Mean to Me
World Where You Live
In My Command
Whatever You Want
Fall at Your Feet
Whispers and Moans
Playing With Fire (with Reb Fountain)
Pineapple Head
When You Come
Private Universe
Four Seasons in One Day
Silent House
To the Island
Nails in My Feet
Locked Out
Don't Dream It's Over
Something So Strong
Distant Sun
 
Encore:
Chocolate Cake
"Heroes" (David Bowie cover)
Better Be Home Soon

 

Van Gogh Alive

Van Gogh Alive is an exhibition of Van Gogh’s works, projected and set to music. Some pieces are also animated. It’s been all round the world and is currently in several cities – St Petersburg, Mexico City, Birmingham, Sydney and Zurich, as well as New Zealand. The whole thing tells the story of Van Gogh’s artistic life, from Netherlands to Paris, Arles, Saint Rémy and Auvers-sur-Oise. It also contains biographical details and excerpts from his letters to family and friends. It’s travelled around the world and has been in Wellington before, in 2020, when it was an outdoors exhibition. For its return they’ve moved it indoors to the TSB Arena.

We went on a Monday morning to try to avoid the crowds, and were reasonably successful in that – there were only a few people in the exhibition. Before entering the projection room there’s a display of his art and the various phases of his work, so you can follow his artistic development. There’s also a mock-up of his bedroom at Arles, the subject of one of his paintings, in which you can stand to have your picture taken.

The projection runs on a loop lasting around half an hour or so. We’d joined it near the end, so waited whilst it completed, then took us back to the start. Slightly out of kilter, but it didn’t make much difference to us. We stood, then sat, through the show, as people wandered around and children played on the floor projections. 

At the end there’s a room full of sunflowers and mirrors in which to take your picture as well. Finally, exit through the gift shop, where we bought some fridge magnets.

So, is it any good? Well, the difference between getting up close to the actual pictures in a gallery is obvious. On the other hand, all the pictures are in various galleries around the world, so your chances of seeing them all together depends on there being a major exhibition. And then being able to get to it. It also provides a pretty good potted history of Van Gogh’s paintings, styles and influences. So overall it gets a thumbs up from me, and a thumbs up from her.

Afterwards we went to lunch at a new place we’d spotted when we parked the car: The Lab, which appears to be the bigger brother of the one we visited a few months ago on Victoria Street. Apparently there’s four of them now in Wellington. Anyway, tasty food, but no beverage license so had to have soft drinks or water. It turns out it’s been there a while, actually, but as we don’t visit this part of town with any kind of regularity, we’d missed it.

 

 

Billy Idol

Eighties throwback Billy Idol is on a world tour, starting in America and now winging its way around  Australia and New Zealand. And for once a major star is not just visiting Auckland, but also taking in Wellington and Christchurch, before heading back to the States and thence to the UK and Europe. On the Australasian leg of the tour he’s supported by Cheap Trick, and Aussie band The Angels.

Oddly enough, Nicola wasn’t that interested in seeing this show, so I teamed up with quiz team regular, Tor. Tor handily works for the Bresolin brothers, so we were able to get some nosh at Scopa and take advantage of her staff discount, before going to the gig. The Bresolin brothers, you will recall, own such hot properties as Scopa, Duke Carvell’s Swan Lane Emporium, and the aptly-named The Bresolin, all of which we have patronised regularly (“you’re quite good, for some Wellington cafés”).

We then wandered up to the TSB Arena for the gig. The show was starting early as there are three bands, each with a substantial set. This venue is Wellington’s second-largest (after the stadium) and holds around 5,000. We’ve been here to see netball and for exhibitions, but this is the first time I’ve been to it as a music venue. We were seated to the left of the stage.  

The Angels are well-known to Australian audiences, but never really broke out of their home country (few Aussie bands seem to - Powderfinger, anyone?). Their heyday was the late Seventies and Eighties, when they were regularly in the album and singles charts in Australia. They are, apparently, famous for a chant at their concerts, in response to the question raised by one of their songs Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? to which the answer is “no way, get fucked, fuck off!” And it seemed plenty of people in the audience knew this.

Cheap Trick are best remembered for their iconic hit I Want You To Want Me. In fact, they’re known for little else, although they’ve continued making albums until 2009. For reasons unknown, they’re big in Japan…it was their live recording of IWYTWM from the album At Budokan which brought them to international recognition. They played a short set which included a few songs which, it turned out, I did know (Ain't That A Shame, If You Want My Love). It turns out that quite a few people at the concert were there to see Cheap Trick rather than Billy Idol.

And so to the main act: Idol still looks like Billy Idol (hey, once you’ve found your look, why change it?). He was loud, he was bad, and he played all those tunes that you remember, including the Generation X songs Dancing With Myself and Ready Steady Go; and an adaptation of his LA Woman cover, which he changed to Wellington Woman (I kinda think he does this for every city he visits) and added in some stuff from his new album, Kings And Queens Of the Underground. And of course, he took off his shirt. This seemed to excite some of the members of the audience.

He finished off his main set with Rebel Yell, before coming back on for an encore of White Wedding and Mony Mony.