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

 

En Route To Normal

Apparently, Bill Bailey came up with the name of this show before the covids hit. It’s the title of his latest show, and, as was the case with his last tour, he’s decided to kick it off in New Zealand – in stark contrast to most other comedians and performers, who usually play New Zealand about two years after the rest of the world (if at all), long after the DVD has been released.

And where better to kick it off than in Wellington? Two shows on consecutive nights at the Michael Fowler Centre, before taking it to 11 other cities on a 17-date tour of the country. The UK gets the tour in December 2021 and January 2022, on the assumption that you’re all cured of the covids.

But first, of course, the traditional pre-show dinner. We’d arranged to meet up with James and Rupert, but, due to the show being on  (and presumably being Saturday night as well), our first two choices (Cin Cin and Apaché) were booked out, so we ended up in old fave Field & Green. Nothing wrong with that, and we had a slap-up dinner rounded off with their signature ice cream selection…I had peanut butter and chocolate, while Nicola had marmalade.

A quick walk up the street to the MFC, and we took our seats with minutes to spare. On came Bill, and boy, was he pleased to see us! And yes, he did mention the covids, as well as musing on his time in MIQ with Big Terry the sparrow and his pigeon cleaners. He was fairly scathing about the UK’s response, and did some standard St Jacinda-worshipping. He introduced us to some of his instrumentation, including the theremin, which is usually played with the hands but can also be played with the head. As usual, there were musical interludes, and the revelation that Kraftwerk had expanded their repertoire from traditional ballads into children’s entertainment. He gave us anti-Nazi limericks, and tales of derring-do (actually, more derring-don’t) whilst filming documentaries about birds of paradise. In the second half, having established that there were more German speakers (or, at least, German understanders) in the audience than he was expecting, he started to repeat the show in German. Surprisingly, we were able to follow it more or less, possibly helped by the fact that we’d heard it before, and the accompanying gestures. Fortunately, he switched back to English, then entertained us with the Metal Lifestyle at home, and answering the door to Jehovah’s Witnesses in said style. As the end of the show neared, he expanded on his thesis that any song sounds better when played in the Metal style, and invited suggestions from the audience to demonstrate this. One punter almost floored him by requesting Ave Maria, whilst the other song to get the treatment was Lady In Red. My suggestion (Remember You’re A Womble) was sadly ignored – maybe he recognised my voice from last time?

That about rounded the show up, and we went off home satisfied with our comedy entertainment. If you can get to a show, do so!

Blackcaps vs. Australia

The Blackcaps have been playing a five-match T20 series against Australia over the last two weeks. After winning the first two matches in Christchurch and Dunedin – the first by a convincing 53 runs, the second by 4 runs, the action moved to Wellington.

And then the covid dickheads struck, and the country was moved into Level 2 and Auckland Level 3. The upshot of this was that the Wellington match, which we had wanted to see, was played behind closed doors. But the following match was due to be played in Auckland, and the final in Tauranga. The decision was taken to play these all in Wellington, but also without crowds. Boo!

The first two matches played, and the Blackcaps lost both. Clearly, they can only win if they have supporters. But wait…what’s this? On Friday afternoon, with no new community transmission cases for five days, St. Jacinda announced that we would be moving to Level 1 with effect from 6:00am on Sunday morning – the day of the final match! The decider could be played in front of a crowd.

Ticketek swung into action, and tickets were available immediately. Unfortunately, I’d already signed up to a tour at Zealandia for Sunday morning, so I made my way down to the stadium as quickly as possible afterwards, but missed the first nine overs of Australia’s innings, joining when they were at 77/3. Australia were scoring slowly at this point, and never really picked up the pace or managed to get a partnership going. Helped along by Sodhi’s double in the 18^th and Southee’s two in the final over, they set an eminently gettable target of 143.

Guptill and Conway opened for New Zealand, and, unlike on previous occasions, utterly dominated the Australian bowling line-up. They reached 106 before Conway was out for 36. Time for Captain Kane to step up to the crease…and immediately step down again. Out for a golden duck. Poo. Despite that, and the loss of Guptill three overs later for 71, the work had been done (Guptill putting one six on the roof of the stadium), and the total was reached in the 15^th over. Another convincing win for New Zealand, and a series win over Australia, which is always a good thing.

After a short break, the second part of the day’s entertainment was the White Ferns against England. This was the third of a three-match series, and was already a dead rubber, with England 2-0 up in the series. Never mind, could the Ferns salvage some respect with a win?

No.

England are a class apart from the White Ferns, and took them apart again with relative ease. Having set a modest target of 128, England bowled the Ferns out for 96 in 18 overs. They’re really going to have to up their game before next year’s world cup.

There’s more international cricket later in the month when Bangladesh tour New Zealand for three ODIs and three T20 matches. We’ll be along to the Basin Reserve to see one of those, covid permitting. Meanwhile we’re back in Level 1, apart from Auckland, so life is again returning to normal. Tasman and Cook Island bubbles are being talked about again, although our roll-out of the vaccine seems to be progressing at snail’s pace. So far, 75% of border workers have received it, but for the rest of New Zealand it will be “in the second half of the year”, according to Chris Hipkins. Sorry, could you be a bit more vague?

 

That was Quick Pt. 2

Over the past fortnight, the Covid authorities have been dealing with a new outbreak based around Papatoetoe High School in Auckland. The source of the original infection hasn’t been positively identified, and there were increasing numbers of cases being found through testing. But it was nothing to really worry about, as the outbreak was contained, all the affected people were self-isolating, and proper protocols were being followed – the school had been closed, deep-cleaned, sites of interest investigated, and casual contacts traced and tested.

 

At least, that’s what was reported in the news. But, it turns out, people who said they were self-isolating were doing just that: saying they were self-isolating, whilst going about their business as usual. Yep, another case has popped up, related to the high school, and it turns out this individual has been spreading it about the place like nobody’s business. Genius level: Einstein.

Auckland has returned to Level 3 for one week, and the rest of New Zealand will return to Level 2, whilst the consequences of this are traced, tested and isolated.

Once again, events are being cancelled across the country. The international cricket we were hoping to get to this week will still go ahead, but without crowds, so that’s one event crossed off the list already.

Last time this happened, we were able to return to Level 1 quite quickly. Let’s hope this stays true this time. Bill Bailey and Crowded House are both only two weeks away…

That Was Quick

 ...As the actress said to the bishop.

Yes, our latest change to Covid-19 alert level 2 lasted just three days outside Auckland. Auckland, which was at alert level 3, is still at level 2, with a review on Monday 22nd. Seven cases have been identified to date from the latest outbreak, all connected. 

Now we're back to "normal" again, it looks like those events I was worried about last week are back on. Let's just hope there's not another outbreak before then. Bill Bailey is already in New Zealand for his upcoming tour, so chances of this going ahead are good.

In an act of outrageous optimism, I've bought tickets for next year's Cricket World Cup. Six of the games are to be played in Wellington's Basin Reserve, so there's an earlybird bulk deal to be had. 

Super Smash

We’ve been following the two Wellington teams, Blaze (women) and Firebirds (men), throughout New Zealand’s T20 competition, Super Smash. Both teams won last year, and are hoping to do a repeat this year as well. Each team plays the other five twice, once at home and once away. We’d missed a couple of games over Christmas as we were off doing the Milford Track, but were around for the later stages of the tournament, attending four of the matches.

The match format this year has been double-headers throughout, i.e. women’s and men’s matches on the same day. Some fixtures have put the women’s match first, others have put the men on first. This seems to have been dictated by whether the ground has lights to allow play in the evening as well as during the day. At the Basin Reserve, the women’s matches have gone first. The matches have all been at weekends, and attendance has been pretty good, especially for the Wellington Anniversary weekend, when there were matches on both Sunday and Monday. The weather has been reasonable as well – sometimes a bit cloudy, but none of the matches have been shortened due to poor weather conditions.

At the end of the round robin, the Firebirds were top of the table. This means automatic qualification for the final, and also that the final would be held in Wellington. The Blaze weren’t quite as successful, having topped the table throughout most of the competition; a couple of late losses knocked them down to third, and they went into the play-off against the Auckland Hearts to determine who would face the Canterbury Magicians. Fortunately they came through that with relative ease, and we therefore had a double Wellington/Canterbury final at the Basin.

It was a lovely day. Nicola had orchestra in the morning so wasn’t able to make it for the opening of the innings, but arrived shortly after. First up, the Blaze came out to bat. On what proved to be quite a difficult wicket they amassed a total of 125 – not a convincing display, and Sophie Devine in particular was playing far more cautiously than we’re used to seeing; this possibly due to the fact that her previous two innings hadn’t been quite as electric as we’re used to from her. Once she’d gone for 47, most of the remaining batters tumbled in quick succession, and no-one was able to put together a really good partnership. Melie Kerr held on until almost the end, finishing on 31, but lacked any support.

The Blaze started well in bowling to the Magicians, however, and for a while it looked like the game was in their hands. The required run rate was climbing higher and higher, hitting 13 at one point, and wickets tumbled with regularity – including a hat-trick to Melie Kerr in the 10^th over – but meanwhile, Kate Ebrahim began quietly building a total, and when she was joined by Lea Tahuhu it seemed the pair were immovable. Still, they weren’t on top of the run rate, until over 17, when Tahuhu started to let rip, with two sixes. Suddenly, the target looked eminently gettable, and Ebrahim helped out in the 18^th with successive fours. They needed nine off the last over, and when Tahuhu hit another six off the second ball, it was pretty well all over. A poor decision by the captain kept all the fielders on the boundaries with the score one behind, and four balls to go. They finished easily with a couple of singles, and took the title.

After a short interval, on came the Firebirds. They’d sown up their position at the top of the table weeks earlier, and it was only a matter of who their opposition would be. It turned out to be the Canterbury men’s team, the Kings. The Firebirds won the toss and decided to bowl. They took an early wicket, but then struggled to contain the Kings. Eventually they broke through in the eighth over, and then it was Canterbury’s turn to struggle, as they failed to make much progress in the middle overs. In Over 14 they lost two wickets to successive balls to Michael Bracewell, and managed to pick up the pace a little before stuttering to 175/8.

The Firebirds came in with a required run rate of 8.8, and put down a statement of intent with 14 off the first over. Losing two wickets in the third and fourth overs caused a bit of a stumble, but afterwards Devon Conway steered them along, making notable partnerships with Troy Johnson and Jimmy Neesham. It was my turn to leave early as I had a night tour at Zealandia, and at that point it was anyone’s game. But Conway batted on, almost reaching a century, and brought the total home with two balls, and five wickets, to spare.

So, one apiece. The Firebirds retain their dominance, but the Blaze have been knocked from their perch. 

Next up (hopefully) there’ll be international cricket, Covid permitting...as this all happened before the latest lockdown was announced. We’re still waiting to hear about a relaxation of the levels, but with two new cases today, any thoughts of moving back to Level 1 have been dampened somewhat.

 

Here We Go Again

Three new cases of Covid-19 have been discovered in the community, i.e. outside MIQ. They’re the new UK strain. So we’re back to the Covid levels again, and as with last time, there’s a higher level for Auckland (Level 3) than for the rest of the country (Level 2). At the moment this is a 72-hour lockdown, presumably so that they can try and trace the source of transmission and check all other contacts for it. This is different to previous cases where a community case has been found because it is (a) the UK strain, and (b) not linked to MIQ or historic cases.

How does this look to my overseas readers? Are we in a panic over three cases? Last time this happened was in August last year, when the new cases quickly spiralled into New Zealand’s largest cluster of nearly 200 cases. On the other hand, no-one’s died from Covid for ages here, and we’re not reporting daily cases and deaths in the hundreds or thousands.

Again, looking at August 2020 as the most recent comparison, what started out as a 3-day lockdown ended up being 41 days at Level 2, with Auckland spending even longer before they returned to Level 1. So let’s not count our chickens.

What does this mean for us? It’s back to wearing masks on public transport, and hopefully more people will start to re-use the app again – now with new, improved, Bluetooth! Also, the Old Bailey will have to reconfigure their tables for pub quiz and resume table service only. Other events for which we had high hopes are no doubt under review – theatre, international cricket, Bill Bailey and Crowded House are scheduled in the next month. Hopefully we’ll get to at least some of these.