To: Tongue in the Mail - The Crowded House Mailing List

From: Alan R Zeleznikar

Subject: Neil Finn's Fillmore (San Francisco) Concert Review

Hi, I'm a new member but an old (in every way, probably) fan of Neil's.

I saw him and the lads at The Fillmore on Tuesday, 11 August, 1998 and here is my report:

The Fillmore is a surprisingly small venue (in my mind anyway) for Neil, but it does hold maybe 800-1000 people and it was declared a sell out from the host - some local doofus DJ. It is standing room only venue, with a few seats along the side and back on the second floor (first floor if you aren't a Merkin). Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Seeing Neil in such a venue was great!

The show opened with "Twisty Bass" with Neil on bass(!). Mr Moore played a funky-cool aquamarine 6 stringed noisemaker. I was chuckling to myself - Neil's no bass player, but he did a decent job. He used two mikes - one for the normal vocal and the other for the effected one (the telephone/bullhorn sound).

The third song was "I Got You" which really surprised me and delighted everyone. I kept hoping for "Six Months on a Leaky Boat" (throw a bone to Tim, then) - but sadly, I was disappointed.

General musical mayhem ensued for a while, with lots of new material being played. I think only one or two songs from TWT were NOT played at this show.

A very nice solo acoustic mini-set midway brought us all closer to our man, with gentle singalongs and numerous paper airplanes being lofted to the stage. "Don't Dream It's Over" allowed us to demonstrate why we aren't vocalists in our own bands, but in reality it was a creditable performance and Neil seemed pleased with us. This set also included a very nice version of "Fall At Your Feet" (IIRC).

The boys came back and more group effort ensued.

The encores (there were three) included Liam's song "Empty Head". Earlier in the evening Liam proved he didn't have an empty hand when someone managed to stab the poor boy in it with a paper airplane. "We've drawn the first blood of the night!" was the declaration from the band leader. He recovered quickly and play continued.

Neil gave us several interesting moments during the show. At one point he dedicated "Private Universe" to Paul and Nick, "wherever they are" said with a slight edge. He also made a comment prior to "Not the Girl You Think You Are" by saying "This is a song I didn't get to play too much in Crowded House - we broke up too soon." He also told the story of how he came to write "Into Temptation" and then proceeded to play it for us. Quite lovely, really.

It was a late-running show. We were given two and a half hours of music and I left pretty wiped out.

Personal highlights: the acoustic set and our accompaniment, "Truth" and "She Will Have Her Way". Personal lowlight: the playing with the digital delay box several times. Will someone tell him to please stop that? It's just noise - not interesting in the least.

My reaction was that the other gents playing CH material for some reason didn't seem as "true" to me as the new stuff. I hope that Neil will play Neil stuff on the next tour with a set of solo acoustic CH stuff and maybe as an encore. I guess it is too different a vibe for me. Musically, I think these guys will end up being better musicians (sans vocals - they are weak there) than the CH unit, but that Hester unpredictability wasn't there (of course).

That's it. Sorry I don't have a better grasp on the set list, but I bet if someone asks "Did they play..?" I'll be able to say "Yes" or "No" or "I don't remember."