Crowded House lived up to its name literally on Friday night, as a wall-to-wall throng packed the 9:30 club to see the headlining group. And for good reason. Having reconvened last year after splitting up at the peak of its powers in 1996, it’s got everything you could want in a band: an embarrassment of superb material, a charismatic frontman, a set list that’s rewritten nightly, a tolerance for — nay, encouragement of — spontaneity and, most important, that palpable love of performing that can’t be faked.
Led by underrated singer-guitarist Neil Finn — who’s revered as a songwriter of Lennonesque lyrical gifts and McCartneyesque melodic talent — Crowded House has overcome every obstacle with grace: from the devastating (the 2005 suicide of drummer Paul Hester) to the merely annoying (the impudence of some of their own alleged fans, who welcomed the band to its first D.C. gig in more than a decade by yapping throughout the 130-minute concert). Fortunately, the reverent outnumbered the rude: “You’re in very fine voice tonight, Washington,” Finn gushed, deputizing 1,200 backup singers to fill out the soaring “World Where You Live.” Read the rest here.
(Via The Washington Post. Image courtesy Baby, You Got a Stew Goin’!)
Crowded House set list – 9:30 Club, 5/2/08
Everything is Good For You / World Where You Live / Isolation? (new) / Bangin’ the Dust? (new) / Distant Sun / Whispers & Moans / Cinematic 9? (new) / Either Side of the World (new) / English Trees / Nails in My Feet / Don’t Dream It’s Over / Four Seasons In One Day / Twice If You’re Lucky / Weather With You / Encore One / Locked Out / Something So Strong / Private Universe / Encore Two / Into Temptation / Pineapple Head / Improv song w/ crowd / Mansion In The Slums / She Goes On / Better Be Home Soon
