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