CROWDED HOUSE + LIAM FINN – BRIGHTON CENTRE 12.10.24
Crowded House visit the Brighton Centre as part of their tour to promote their current album ‘Gravity Stairs’. Keeping things in the family, support comes from Neil Finn’s son Liam, who also plays guitar with Crowded House. Liam has an album coming out in November titled ‘Hyperverse’.
Bang on 7:30pm, Liam Finn comes bouncing onto the stage, somewhat kangaroo-like, singing along to a pre-recorded backing track (which it will later become apparent that he probably prepared himself before the gig) and for a couple of seconds unfortunately reminds me of Michael Barrymore with an Antipodean accent. Luckily this comparison is very short lived! However, my initial reaction to the first song is one of mild annoyance, although this doesn’t last very long. Liam joins in with the backing track by playing a theremin, which I always think is a rather imaginative choice of instrument, before moving onto drums. The first song is quite disco-fied, and to be honest sounds like something that might be played by “the turn” in a working men’s club. Things do however significantly improve.
Liam does like to chat, and his chat is quite amusing. He tells us that being a warm-up “is the most important job of the evening”. Well, that is indeed possible Liam, but the jury is very much out for now.
The second song is called ‘Drop Your Bolts’, (or maybe ‘Drop Your Boats’) and is from the forthcoming album, although there’s a similar sounding name tune called ‘Jump Your Bones’ from 2011’s ‘Fomo’ album. Despite his propensity for chatting, Liam is not very good at telling us what the titles of the songs are! He doesn’t seem to be working from a setlist either! Liam starts this song by putting drums onto a loop before moving onto guitar. The vocals sound as if they are being put through a vocoder. There’s some very sweet lead playing too. Liam is nothing if not versatile!
Next up we have what Liam describes as “a mellow song”, and it is, featuring Liam on just guitar and vocals. He does overlay additional guitar parts though. By and large the material is pretty good. Perhaps surprisingly the songs that seem to work the best seem to be the ones that are least adorned. Having said that, it’s interesting to see the backing tracks being put together onstage. However, I think the songs would work perfectly well just with Liam playing an acoustic guitar and singing. The final song, ‘I Just Want You To Be So Happy’ from this year’s ‘Suspicious’ 5-track EP is rockier than the rest, and is a punchy song to end on. This has been an enjoyable and interesting half an hour. I’m not entirely sure that it has convinced me to buy Liam’s album though.
When Crowded House take the stage they receive one of the most enthusiastic welcomes that I’ve heard for a long time. Their entry starts off with one of their backing singers walking onstage wearing a raincoat and a trilby hat, carrying a musical instrument in a case, and a lamp. He hangs up the lamp, takes off his coat and hat, takes out the instrument (which appears to be a balalaika), and begins to play. The rest of the band gradually join him, all looking rather like yokels, and break into ‘Weather With You’. This surprises me somewhat, as this particular song I would have expected to be one of the encores at the end of the show. Maybe they just wanted to get it out of the way. If that’s the case, the performance of it is nowhere near perfunctory, and it’s a great way to get the audience completely on your side from the first note.
The first song from current album ‘Gravity Stairs’ follows (‘Teenage Summer’), and is greeted as if the audience have known it all of their lives! Another two of Crowded House’s best known songs, ‘World Where You Live’ and ‘Fall At Your Feet’ are also dispatched early on. I’m beginning to worry about what they’re going to have left in the tank for later in the set!!! However, one of the very many great things about Crowded House is that they have a truly astonishing back catalogue, containing songs that take you by surprise because having heard the big-hitters like ‘Weather With You’ and ‘World Where You Live’, you’d momentarily forgotten about some of their other great songs.
Having earlier been quite impressed by Liam Finn, I hadn’t quite realised what a key role he now plays in Crowded House. He plays the majority of the lead guitar (the rest is handled by his dad Neil) and occasionally sings lead as well. Crowded House now only features two original members: Neil Finn on guitar, piano and lead vocals, and Nick Seymour on bass. On keyboards is Mitchell Froom, who whilst he isn’t an original member, was the band’s original producer. Neil tells us that Mitchell is “an ace surfer”. Mitchell looks somewhat bemused!
The spirit of the band is very much intact, and there is some hilarious banter between the band members. For example:
Liam: “No-one gives a sh*t about the lyrics”
Nick: “They’re only listening to the bass”.
All in all this is a pleasant, comfortable, entertaining listen. This is a good thing, as I don’t think that this audience have come here to be challenged! The performance is absolutely exemplary. There really is nothing to criticise, at least not in a negative way. For any guitarists and bassists in the audience, Crowded house have a cavalcade of superb instruments. One could become quite jealous. Also, it has to be said that Liam Finn’s lead playing is absolutely awesome.
There are many highlights in tonight’s show, and one particular highlight is ‘Private Universe’, which Neil begins as a solo acoustic number, and the rest of the band join in after the first verse. Liam plays some glorious slide.
The two backing singers, who also play a number of different instruments including acoustic guitar, and whose names are (I think) Adeus and Leus, are new to the band. They’re introduced and given a little showcase, during which they play an instrumental which sounds like it could have come straight from ‘Fiddler On The Roof’.
The main set gradually comes to a close with highlights including ‘Four Seasons In One Day’, ‘Pineapple Head’ and ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’. As instructed, we don’t, and the band quickly return. After ‘It’s Only Natural’ they muck about on a song about Saturday night in Brighton, which Liam makes up on the spot. It’s not bad…. After ‘Some Greater Plan (For Claire)’ and the classic ‘Better Be Home Soon’ proceedings come to an end.
This has been a superb show. Crowded House have played for over two hours and have made the show seem like it’s been half that length. I would quite happily have watched them go on for at least another hour or so. They’ve played everything that even the most ardent Crowded House fan would want to hear. They play six songs from ‘Gravity Stairs’, and they already sound like classics. Not only that, but we get a Split Enz cover (‘Message To My Girl’) as well! Gentlemen, you spoil us. This has been nothing less than a masterclass.
Crowded House:
Neil Finn – guitar, piano and vocals
Nick Seymour – bass and vocals
Mitchell Froom – keyboards and vocals
Liam Finn – guitar and vocals
Elroy Finn – drums
Unknown – percussion
Adeus and Leus(?) – backing vocals, acoustic guitar, balalaikas
Crowded House setlist:
‘Weather With You’ (from 1991 ‘Woodface’ album)
‘Teenage Summer’ (from 2024 ‘Gravity Stairs’ album)
‘World Where You Live’ (from 1986 ‘Crowded House’ album)
‘Something So Strong’ (from 1986 ‘Crowded House’ album)
‘Fall At Your Feet’ (from 1991 ‘Woodface’ album)
‘Oh Hi’ (from 2024 ‘Gravity Stairs’ album)
‘To The Island’ (from 2021 ‘Dreamers Are Waiting’ album)
‘Black And White Boy’ (from 1993 ‘Together Alone’ album)
‘Whispers And Moans’ (from 1991 ‘Woodface’ album)
‘Black Water, White Circle’ (from 2024 ‘Gravity Stairs’ album)
‘Either Side Of The World’ (from 2010 ‘Intriguer’ album)
‘Message To My Girl’ (Split Enz cover) (from 1983 ‘Conflicting Emotions’ Split Endz album)
‘Fingers Of Love’ (from 1993 ‘Together Alone’ album)
‘Private Universe’ (from 1993 ‘Together Alone’ album)
‘When You Come’ (from 1988 ‘Temple Of Low Men’ album)
‘Thirsty’ (from 2024 ‘Gravity Stairs’ album)
‘Four Seasons In One Day’ (from 1991 ‘Woodface’ album)
‘Pineapple Head’ (from 1993 ‘Together Alone’ album)
‘The Howl’ (from 2024 ‘Gravity Stairs’ album)
‘Locked Out’ (from 1993 ‘Together Alone’ album)
‘Distant Sun’ (from 1993 ‘Together Alone’ album)
‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ (from 1986 ‘Crowded House’ album)
(encore)
‘It’s Only Natural’ (from 1991 ‘Woodface’ album)
‘Improvisation’ (Made up on the spot!)
‘Some Greater Plan (For Claire)’ (from 2024 ‘Gravity Stairs’ album)
‘Better Be Home Soon’ (from 1988 ‘Temple Of Low Men’ album)
We got Chocolate Cake too at the O2! Crowded House after still fantastic after all these years 👊