Review – Crowded House: Live from the Island

Crowded House Streams Live From The Island

Crowded House, one of the ‘80s top bands, livestreamed it’s Crowded House: Live from the Island on Saturday, June 12th.  This was one of the first major concerts since the pandemic. The concert was filmed in March 2021 in front of a live audience at the Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. Founding band members Neil Finn and Nick Seymour were joined by new members Mitchell Froom, Liam Finn and Elroy Finn.

The ’80s was known for the 2nd British Invasion with dozens of artists from the UK and Ireland taking the world by storm. However, ten thousand miles away Australia was churning out bands of its own. AC/DC, Men At Work, INXS and many others shot to fame.  One of my favorite bands of the era was Crowded House. The band which was formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1984 is known for catchy iconic hits such as “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and “Something So Strong.”

Crowded House Streams Live From The Island
Photo Credit Aaron Lee

After a 10-year hiatus, Crowded House just released a new album, Dreamers Are Waiting. The band played a series of shows in New Zealand to support the album. Live From the Island features the band playing songs from the new album along with others spanning their 35-year career. “We were truly blessed to be able to play 12 real live gigs in New Zealand, the band together after a year of lockdown, sensing the occasion and playing as if everything was brand new and full of wonder,” says Neil Finn. “We can’t wait to share this beautifully captured performance from Auckland with our fans around the world in anticipation of being on the stage for them in person once again.

Crowded House Streams Live From The Island
Photo Credit Aaron Lee

I have reviewed several livestream shows in the last six months. Most were filmed on a small set with the bands using creative concepts to make the show unique.  However, Live from the Island is a pure concert experience.  The show was performed on a large stage in a sold-out Spark Arena in front of 12,000 fans. This was not a show for jumping up and down, bobbing heads and forming mosh pits.  It was an opportunity to just sit back in a relaxing atmosphere and chill out to songs to which many grew up listening.

Attending a show for a band from the ‘80s or prior brings some apprehension as to whether or not the band has lost anything in their sound, especially when line-up changes are involved.  In this case, apprehension was resolved very quickly.  Neil Finn may be gray haired and 63 years of age, but his voice still resonates like it did in his early years. The rest of the band complemented Finn’s vocals flawlessly. But this is what one would expect because of the familiarity of the band members.  Bassist Nick Seymour is a founding member of the band and Liam and Elroy Finn are sons of Neil from his 39 year marriage to wife Sharon.

Crowded House Streams Live From The Island
Photo Credit Aaron Lee

Twenty-four songs were performed over the course of two hours.  The band opened with “Weather with You” with Neil Finn, attired in a suit jacket and loud, colorful button-up shirt, and Nick Seymour clad in a suit jacket and kilt. They rolled through song after song of everyone’s favorite Crowded House classics with a heavy dose of songs from the Crowded House, Woodface, and Dreamers are Waiting albums. Fans boisterously joined in on their hits “World Where You Live” and “Fall at Your Feet”. Fellow New Zealander, Reb Fountain and her band, provided background vocals on “Playing With Fire” and “To The Island”.

The audience was treated to a five-song encore.  Neil Finn got behind the piano for the first two songs, “Chocolate Cake” channeling some Jerry Lee Lewis and a stirring tribute to Covid front-line workers with the Bowie classic, “Heroes”.  Before Crowded House, Finn was in a popular band called Split Enz. He was proud to perform that band’s #1 Australian hit, “I Got You”.  The show closed with “Better Be Home Soon” upon which the band received a standing ovation.

Crowded House Streams Live From The Island
Photo Credit Aaron Lee
Crowded House Streams Live From The Island
Photo Credit Aaron Lee

It would be easy to continue on with how a good show this was; but that would be just one man’s opinion. What is great about livestream shows is that it is easy to get the pulse of the audience simply by monitoring the live chat. People were viewing the show from over the world.  North America, South America, Europe and Asia were all represented with viewers from the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Argentina, Spain, Sweden, and others.  Some were expecting a pre-show which has been common with a lot of livestreams.  However, instead of providing a 30-45 minute pre-show and 1 hour performance, Crowded House delivered two hours of solid live performance. The consensus from the livestream chat was that this was a great show.

Live From the Island was a great performance that every Crowded House fan will love. If you missed the initial broadcast, it’s still not too late to watch the show. It will be available on demand for a week, through Sunday, June 20 at 11:59pm EDT. Tickets for this special online event are now on sale at www.CrowdedHouseStream.com

Set List

  1. Weather With You (Woodface)
  2. Mean to Me (Crowded House)
  3. World Where You Live (Crowded House)
  4. In My Command (Together Alone)
  5. Whatever You Want (Dreamers are Waiting)
  6. Fall at Your Feet (Woodface)
  7. Whispers and Moans (Woodface)
  8. Playing With Fire (Dreamers are Waiting)
  9. Pineapple Head (Together Alone)
  10. When You Come (Temple of Low Men)
  11. Private Universe (Together Alone)
  12. Four Seasons in One Day (Woodface)
  13. Silent House (Time on Earth)
  14. To the Island (Dreamers are Waiting)
  15. Nails in My Feet (Together Alone)
  16. Locked Out (Together Alone)
  17. Don’t Dream It’s Over (Crowded House)
  18. Something So Strong (Crowded House)
  19. Distant Sun (Together Alone)

Encore

  1. Chocolate Cake (Woodface)
  2. Heroes (Bowie song)
  3. I Got You (Split Enz Song)
  4. Elephants (Intriguer)
  5. Better Be Home Soon (Temple of Low Men)

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Post by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

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