He introduced the title track of their new album, Dizzy Heights , which received a warm welcome. Perhaps it was feeling a part of it, surrounded by the astounding acoustics of the Festival Hall, with everyone bathed in striking purple and green lighting and a sound you can feel.
We all adored the remarkably sharp performance, and even Neil was beaming at the end. Neil thought the screams must come from fellow Te Awamutu natives Te Awamutuns? Seeing the chance to converse with Neil Finn, albeit across people in the sold-out venue, others started to shout randomly at him, and he charmingly replied that it was good that we were rowdy, and encouraged us to get it out of our system. I remember, when we got MTV in , rushing to the television every hour to watch the rocket go off and see what videos they promised to play in the hour, and because as I recently learned they had so few, I usually got lucky with my favourite band Split Enz.
A few unrecognisable guitar chords led to the unmistakable rhythm of the magnificent One Step Ahead. Thirty-four years later, Neil singing this in front of us was a dream.
A more prominent guitar solo extended the da-da-da-da-da bit with which we helped, some of us teens again and giddy from the bliss.
Many people stood up for this one. Pausing only for applause, the band switched to a different sound and era, a tune from the new album that sounded like a psychedelic dream sequence from the Sixties.
The band bashed it out with exuberance and the many skilled voices made easy work of the multi-layered harmonies, with a guitar-less Jesse focusing on his vocal contribution whilst jiggling to the beat. Pony Ride will never be a favourite of mine, but it was made to be played live. I confess that when I first heard the album, I condemned this song as being a bit Partridge Family on LSD or Partridge Flower Children, but tonight it was a fiery number that more pleasantly put me in mind of something from the Yellow Submarine animated Beatles film.
He said he could hold the lyrics up to a computer screen and get his dad to sing it via Skype and asked Rowan to fetch the PC in case his dad was online now. Having spoken of his own father, he introduced the song that seemed like a message to his sons, In My Blood.
Seems uncontroversial, really. Tonight, he told us this song was a lot to do with generations and the things that you inherit. Not only incredibly catchy with its simple refrain, again benefiting tonight from several extraordinary voices, with captivating lyrics.
Curiously, at one point, all those singers not playing an instrument just held their hands up, clapping them silently in unison with their fingers pointed to the ceiling as though delivering some message of faith that was lost on me, but entrancing. Really, this is a champion song, with Neil pelting out power on the piano on those indelible lines, and I adore the song all the more. During the massive cheers and whistles, Neil moved back centre stage and took up his red Roy Orbinson-ish guitar.
He then again impressively interacted with some indecipherable shouter from the audience—how does he do that? He did. Well, tours have budgets. I was actually impressed by how well the show was moving along so far, no time-wasting; every minute was crammed with pleasurable performance, focusing on the cream without endless jams filling the time. Thankfully, there was none of that tonight, everything was tight and perfect, but still interactive, not cold like a Kylie Showgirl performance presented to us.
We felt very much a part of this enchantment, and the legendary Finn family banter is crucial to the mix. Neil introduced the next song as one he wrote with Sharon, having recently discovered that they could play music together. He loved how what started out as a laugh after dinner with him playing drums and her on bass, out of their comfort zones, ended up with her now playing bass on their tour, which drew cheers and their Pajama Club album en route. The first few soft, nearly a cappella lines made me think, I confess, of an episode in Spinal Tap when the band were harmonising before plunging into something heavier, and then the song reminded me of the Moody Blues.
Unusually for me, I enjoyed it most when the thundering drums took part and beat some shape into the song. This tour had a plan. An Antipodean woman in the audience enquired loudly what Neil had done today, and he told us that he made the most of the pleasant London weather strolling through Haggerston Park then Victoria Park really?
How privileged I am that my favourite performers are still so active, still so talented, and with one or two of the most formidable repertoires around. Thanks to the welcome lack of rebellious moustache on his face, Neil still looks so young, seemingly like he just stepped out of Split Enz until you check an old video, but realise that actually now he looks right; then, he was clearly a green shoot. And this is such a splendid song and yet one that I would probably fail to name if asked to pick my top 20 Finn songs, not just because of the stiff competition, but it took a few years to hit me with its grandeur.
When asked by an audience woman where his brother was all these questions! That would have been fun for a duet on buffering delay? Neil said to keep calling so we could get a few people lined up on laptops on the piano, which I thought was a wonderfully novel idea, if a bit Max Headroom obscure 80s reference. It was deliciously surreal as the band delivered a highly professional rendition of this great song, and the audience not only watched them but also, sitting atop the piano being played by Jesse, this conventional older couple patiently looking at us looking at them.
At one point, Neil glanced over and smiled to see them but otherwise focused on his work. The end of this tune was a symphony of splendid nearly a cappella voices. He spoke again of his desire to have something revolutionary with all the clan gathered on the piano via laptops. Neat, though I doubt that scene with Michelle Pfieffer on the piano in the Fabulous Baker Boys would have been so memorable if handled in this modern day way. Neil strummed a few chords on an acoustic guitar as a couple walked past just below him in the aisle in front of the stage, having been to the bar for some beer, and Neil said it was like the walk of shame down there.
Eventually one was brought to him, but he said he really tasted their patience as they stood there thirsty for three hours as he drank the only drink in the house. Seriously, everyone. The perfect Holly was now back on cello and backing vocals. Not that he was grimacing and looking pained the rest of the time, just focused and taking things in, so the odd smile was an added delight.
It was great she had a chance to dazzle so dynamically, and the crowd was thrilled. That made me picture the Beach Boys or Frank Zappa until he said it was about watching the sun go down on the west coast of New Zealand. Something I hope to see one day. I think too much, the alphabet They dance a piroutte in my head A chance remark become the spark And maybe luck has come again. The hint of a smile The accidental rhyme That captured me the first time.
Midnight is standing in the shadows This haunting is a reckless escape Late nights of crawling on the sidewalk Let's stay on in the mansion for the weekend Let's go on making moments last a lifetime We live on in the promises we keep. Let's go on making moments last a lifetime We live on in the promises we keep. He imagines the world As the angel ascending Like the ghost of a man Who is tied up to the chair.
And he tries to believe That his life has a meaning With his hand on his heart Pour le monde, pas pour la guerre. You act so nonchalant But he is not a dog Perform for you in the stadium For the world, not for the war.
I want to turn on the lights I want to keep your hopes alive So where do I begin To help you believe again Makers of secret planes Keepers of our last remains Dream of a holy state In a nightmare time You know I meant it well but who was it meant to help. Plead with my saint Wash his hands and feet Find his complaint Make his world complete. Mind out, don't think I can't get used to it Right on the brink I end up losing it.
And this heaven that I'm making It can't come quickly enough And the big wave that I'm taking Feels like I'm just waking up. If there is hell on earth There must be heaven too Both in one place And not a second to lose. A sigh from the deepest well You can tell a lot without saying a thing This truth between us my friend This longing.
A sigh for loneliness to end No changing the story now A sigh from the emptiest part It's a tender place. I think you may have issue with my Homesick tab, I play it with a capo on 3rd fret Deadstar: short answer is no.
If you cut and paste to a word file you should be able to print them. I've even set the chords in bars, with the corresponding lyrics next to it so it should be self explanatory. I don't like setting the chords above the lyrics apart from the fact that I can't figure out how to format it on this forum without all the spaces vanishing , as you have to know the song to be able to play it, maybe not such a problem on this forum, but as everyone can count, and if they're in chords are written with bar lines, you should know exactly where you are.
It's so much a part of the song that I've included it, best to listen to it to get the exact rhythm, as text is rather basic. There's a kiss and then we're on again? If playing on electric, they're pretty much all barre chords. The angel in the detail soon arise, Spreading her wings over every memory And keeping all our hopes alive.
We could be anywhere Can you feel it? Turn around, won't ya! Anyone else played through them yet? After working them all out, I'm surprised at how different they are from the Tabac shows The creature from the Black Lagoon made you his queen. I tried an F m instead of A in the chorus, again it didn't sound right to me, the A sounded better, again the bass is playing a big fat A, and it didn't sound like an A6 the equivalent of a guitar playing F m and a bass playing A.
I thought about the riff in the verse, I had it as playing a G sliding to xx Anything Can Happen riff, I agree, taking off the extra finger in the second part sounds much better.
The chords at the end, they sound right to me, I'm using the album itself rather than live versions, so I took into account the bass line, and the quality of the chords, so it sounds right to me Won't Give In I think you're right it is , force of habit Gentle Hum, no apologies if it's wrong I could get closer, but I'd have to listen to it more and I'm coming dangerously close to liking it Sunset Swim, I'm having second thoughts about the chorus, sunds fine on acoustic, not so sure on piano, think there may be more extensions.
Way Back Down, the G seems to be held for a long time in the verse, he's singing an A on the word hours from even wait for 48 hours , maybe it's in the chord he's playing, not too sure. It was my main acoustic guitar in both the bands I was in between and , so it went to every rehearsal and every gig, it got tuned and retuned endlessly, it got dropped, dinged, scratched and beaten up, and I went through more high Gs than you can count.
The neck is wide enough that you can actually use it for fingerpicking, but not so wide that barre chords are problematic, and the action is reasonable too. I should play it more really — these days I pretty much only get it out for recording. Acoustic guitar is an extremely percussive instrument. When you record two of them whether you personally record two parts or the two guitarists in your band record one track each , it becomes very important that the two parts are in time with each other and in time with the snare drum.
The further out the strums are from each other or — worse — the snare drum, the more the ear is likely to hear them as flams. This can get distracting for the listener pretty quickly. Blending a standard-tuned part with an open-tuned part can be super fun.
And of course, the effect of this will be even greater if the open-tuned part happened to be played on a twelve-string. Take the progression from the previous paragraph. Again, if one of these parts is played on a twelve-string, the effect is amplified still further. Coolest of all, but oh so difficult to do even vaguely well, is blending and 6-string fingerpicking parts. And truth to tell, the song was thematically a bit adult for the year-old me to really relate to.
Now, I find myself really taken with the sexy, unhurried groove. The triplet swing is still hinted at, but the drum sound is more natural, more expensive-sounding, less brash, than it would have been in the late s.
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