Crowded House perform an outstanding show at sold-out Bowery Ballroom in NYC
Crowded House (Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Crowded House)
By John Curley
Gravity Stairs, the eighth studio album by Crowded House, was released on Friday, May 31st. The band chose to celebrate the occasion by performing that evening at Bowery Ballroom, an intimate venue in Lower Manhattan. The show was sold out, and the packed crowd was treated to one heck of a show that featured quite a few audience sing alongs. It was one of those perfect shows at which band and audience connect so well.
Crowded House’s current lineup consists of Neil Finn (lead vocals, guitar), Nick Seymour (bass backing vocals), Liam Finn (guitar, backing vocals), Elroy Finn (drums, guitar, backing vocals) and Mitchell Froom (keyboards). Liam Finn and Elroy Finn are Neil Finn’s sons. At the Bowery Ballroom show, the band were augmented by Paul Taylor (percussion, drums).
The band kicked off their two-hour show with a stellar performance of “World Where You Live” on which Neil Finn, on lead vocal and acoustic guitar, was in fine voice. The band members provided excellent backing vocals that contributed to the terrific pop sound of the song. It received a huge hand from the packed house.
The remainder of the show was a mixture of songs from the new album, old classics and back catalog tunes that the band enjoys performing. The new song “Teenage Summer” featured a great vocal by Finn, effective backing vocals and tight work by the rhythm section of Seymour and Elroy Finn. The live version of the song rocks a bit more than the studio version. The bouncy new song “I Can’t Keep Up with You” was powered by Finn’s strong lead vocal and the rocking guitar work of Liam Finn. It’s a bit of a quirky song with a Split Enz feel to it. Toward the end of the song, the pace began to slow until the song ground to a halt.
“To the Island” featured at its center Froom’s terrific keyboard playing. Finn added some impressive work on electric guitar in the last third of the song. It received a big reaction from the crowd. After the performance of the song, Finn joked with crowd about the night owls of New York City’s nightclubs. Finn returned to acoustic guitar for the performance of the new song “Magic Piano.” It was an all-hands-on-deck effort with the band perfectly backing Finn’s lead vocal. Finn and Seymour then joked with the crowd and played a bit of Dee-Lite’s “Groove is in the Heart” to feature Seymour’s bass playing. And the crowd roared.
The performance of “When You Come” got very heavy toward the end. The band rocked out, led by Liam Finn’s outstanding guitar playing. It received a deafening and sustained hand from the crowd. The audience then sang along in a full-throated roar to the performance of the elegantly beautiful “Fall at Your Feet.” The effect was both stunning and quite moving. The band seemed genuinely knocked out by the crowd’s enthusiasm.
The new song “Oh Hi” received a tight performance that featured Neil and Liam Finn singing together. And Liam Finn added some impressive guitar work toward the end of the song that received a big cheer from the crowd. Neil and Liam Finn sang together again on the lovely version of the Split Enz song “Sweet Dreams.”
The audience sang along with Finn’s lead vocal on “Private Universe” as he backed himself on acoustic guitar. The performance of the song grew more active as the rest of the band joined in. The rhythm section did great work and Liam Finn added some trippy and explosive guitar playing. The crowd roared in appreciation.
For three songs, Elroy Finn joined his father and brother on guitar. Taylor moved behind the drum kit for those songs. The new song “All That I Ever Own” featured Neil and Elroy Finn on acoustic guitars. The performance of the song was quite nice. Finn then talked to the crowd as both he and Elroy switched to electric guitars. Finn joked about the gig being a “rehearsal.” And he jokingly referred to the crowd as a “test audience.” An outstanding version of the new song “The Howl” followed. The three Finns all being on electric guitars added some heft to the performance of the song. Froom’s keyboard playing was impressive and the rhythm section of Seymour and Taylor did good work. Neil Finn’s guitar playing toward the end of the song was terrific.
For the relaxed “Thirsty,” Neil and Elroy Finn returned to acoustic guitars. The performance of the song was quite beautiful, with a great lead vocal by Finn and effective backing vocals from the band. It received a big cheer from the audience. After the performance of “Thirsty,” Neil Finn returned to electric guitar, Elroy Finn returned to the drumkit and Taylor went back to percussion.
The rocker “Distant Sun” was given a full-on performance with outstanding vocals. The loudest crowd sing along of the night was to “Don’t Dream It’s Over” to the point that their singing almost drowned out the band. And the crowd gave it a roar at the end, as much for their own vocal efforts as for those of the band members.
Prior to closing the main set with “Weather with You,” Finn told the crowd that the band felt blessed to be in New York City for the show and he referred to the concert as an “album release party” to the delight of the crowd. The crowd sang along again and were blown away when the band threw in a bit of Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” into the performance of “Weather with You.” The crowd gave it a deafening roar as the band left the stage.
Following a very brief break, the band returned to the stage. For the first song of the encore, “Something So Strong,” the audience sang along in full voice. After the performance of the song, Finn played a bit of a jokey version of “Something So Strong” to the amusement of the crowd. Froom joined in on keyboard, which led to Finn delivering a soul style vocal for a few lines of “Something So Strong.” And the crowd sang along in unison to the performance of “Four Seasons in One Day,” giving the band another deafening ovation as they left the stage.
The band quickly returned to close out the show with a second encore. One of the best moments of the concert happened when Finn tossed a bit of The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon’ to the performance of “Pineapple Head,” and the crowd, absolutely on their game, sang along to “Sunny Afternoon.” Introducing the new song “Some Greater Plan (for Claire),” Finn told the audience that the song was inspired by his father’s war diaries. His father had a brief romance with a diplomat’s daughter when serving in Italy. And he added with a laugh that his mother did not like it when his father discussed his time in Italy. On the lovely performance of the song, Finn’s lead vocal was at its center and was supported by the band’s stellar backing vocals.
Prior to the performance of “Better Be Home Soon,” the evening’s final song, the band joked with the crowd and Liam Finn sang a few lines of a song that he had made up on the spot to the crowd’s amusement. The energetic audience sang along in full voice once again to the performance of “Better Be Home Soon” on which the band pulled out all of the stops. And the crowd roared once again as the band said their thank yous and left the stage.
Fans with tickets to see Crowded House on the Gravity Stairs tour will be treated to a stellar live show. The band’s full tour dates can be found at https://www.crowdedhouse.com/shows.
The setlist was as follows:
World Where You Live
Teenage Summer
I Can’t Keep Up with You
To the Island
Magic Piano (followed by a bit of Dee-Lite’s Groove is in the Heart)
When You Come
Fall at Your Feet
Oh Hi
Sweet Dreams (Split Enz cover)
Private Universe
All That I Can Ever Own
The Howl
Thirsty
Distant Sun
Don’t Dream It’s Over
Weather With You (included a bit of Talking Heads’ Once in a Lifetime)
Encore 1:
Something So Strong
Four Seasons in One Day
Encore 2:
Pineapple Head (included a bit of The Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon)
Some Greater Plan (for Claire)
Better Be Home Soon
***
