Neil Finn in San Francisco 14 November, 1998

Neil Finn returned to SF for the second time in 3 months Saturday night. This is my report. Warning, I committed an act of blasphemy this night, to which I shall confess later in this essay. It will be preceeded by appropriate "spoiler space" in order to protect some of our more sensitive readers.

As per my usual modus operandi I and a non-fan friend arrived at the club in question about 8 pm. The line stretched down the street and around the block, but, never mind! With all of 650 people in this place getting a bad seat was a non-issue. "Gosh", I thought, "I hope this place has more seats than the Fillmore." Hope springs eternal when standing in line, for alas, the club furniture consisted of a few high stools and tables on the main floor and a few tables and chairs ringing the balconey on the second floor. A quick perusal confirmed my fears; it's gonna be another long night of standing in one place, surrounded by other people and getting progressively hotter and more humid. Joy. Ugh.

What a true pleasure it was that Mr Dobbyn saw fit to start pretty much on time - "on time" meaning approximately 9:10 pm (not bad for a musician, eh?). He played a set of well-crafted pop tunes and was gone by about 9:45 or so. Dave, buddy, here's a tip; don't make jokes about San Andreas in San Francisco (just teasing!). Really, he was entertaining, even as a complete unknown to yours truly.

We were then visited by a local doofus DJ, who came out, said something lame about having a conversation with a wino on the street and then told us Our Man Neil would be coming out shortly. He then mercifully left the stage and pocketed a few hundred dollars for the effort. Not bad, especially for a doofus.

A few minutes later St Neil the Well Coiffed strolled out on stage and played "Last One Standing" to a very appreciative crowd. And even though his entrance interrupted a conversation I was having with an attractive young lady, I was appreciative, too. The set list has already been posted so I won't delve into that, but my personal highlights were "Message to My Girl" (on piano and a really heart-felt rendition. I was actually touched by this song this night), "Distant Sun", "Into Temptation" and "Four Seasons in One Day". "She Will Have Her Way" and "I Got You (with the two musicians and local listee troublemaker ;-) Tom Bishel)" were pretty good as well. "Only Talking Sense" was a treat for me. It's the only song I really like on the "Finn" CD and it's arrangement was very similar to the record's as well.

Our "friend" was the relatively unknown Grant Lee Phillips, who I recognized by reputation but not immediately by name. The aforementioned attractive young lady asked me, "Who?" and I said, "Grant Lee Phillips, I think he's in Grant Lee Buffalo". "Oh..." We had been speculating earlier as to who "our" friend would be. Maybe Chris Isaak ("I think he's on tour") or Neil Young ("He DOES live in Marin, you know"), so I was a bit disappointed. He was a good singer and was a fine accompaniment to Our Man, but... well... how do I say this? He's no Eddie Vedder. Dave, on the other hand, could use a bit more practice. Neil's mid-song halt to teach him the chords he needed for the "Sinner" chorus was funny, but brought the song's performance to a grinding halt. Neil also was teasing him amusingly on other songs by saying words to the effect of, "Dave, have you found the key yet?"

Ah well.

The inflatable Bacardi bottle made it's appearance and we also all sang along to several Carpenters mega-hits which helped lighten the mood and make me forget my now-aching feet. Neil was in a good mood, talking with us quite a bit and clearly enjoying himself, even with his self-described "crusty" plane clothes, which, for the record, were a red v-neck pullover of some kind and some dark trousers. Hey, I was 15 m from the stage - maybe someone up front can give us a fashion report. The hair looked good, I might add.

Warning! Blasphemy follows!
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At the end of (what I had thought was) the last encore, I left. As I was walking out the door, I heard Neil return to the stage and tell us he'd forgotten one song. "Don't Dream It's Over" I muttered under my breath. Too late! I was out and didn't really want to hear yet another rendition of this classic, so we walked down to Pier 39 to my car, paid the exorbitant parking fee and drove home.

Neil gave us at least two and a half hours of music, since I didn't get home until 1:30 am. He is a rarity in rock/pop; he has a real work ethic. He likes to get up there and give us several hours of amazing music and entertainment. He's a very gifted man and I am always happy to see him.

The improvisations and comedic elements helped make this an extremely enjoyable show for non-fans as well. My friend commented afterwards, "That was great! I really enjoyed that! I couldn't see him when he was at the piano, so I could only listen, but that was great, too!". Perhaps Mr Finn has made a new fan here in beautiful, overcrowded, gridlocked, overpriced Silicon Valley.

That's all for now,

Alan Z

We owe it all to Frank Sinatra