In April of this year former Crowded House and Split Enz troubadour Neil Finn performed a series of homecoming shows at the St James theatre in Auckland. The idea was to invite a procession of friends along for the ride, to help out with a random and typically convivial breeze through Finn's extensive back catalogue - a pretty good ruse, particularly if your mates include Johnny Marr, Eddie Vedder and Radiohead's Ed O'Brien and Philip Selway. This live album showcases the best performances from the five-day residency.
Whenever Crowded House played live, the shows would invariably turn into the kind of 'lighters-in-the-air, camp fire sing along' type affairs that critics loved to sneer at but fans rhapsodised about in pseudo religious terms. On the strength of this album, little seems to have changed since Neil Finn turned solo. The reaction of the crowd at least suggests that they were treated to a kind of mini Glastonbury experience every night, and much of this must be down to Finn's knack for writing sweetly melodious folk anthems.
'The Climber', for example, taken from Finn's most recent offering 'One Nil', is gentle folk fare at its finest, with an impeccable measured backing vocal from LA singer songwriter Lisa Germano, and a stirring E-bow contribution from Ed O'Brien. Later on Finn masterfully wheels out the backpacker anthem 'Weather With You' and old favourite 'Don't Dream It's Over' to a predictably tumultuous audience response.
Neil Finn only really runs into problems when he indulges his tendency to rock out - an inclination perhaps not helped by the presence of Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder, who actually contributes a laudably restrained version of his bleakly melodic 'Parting Ways' here. Finn neither looks, nor sounds, like a rock star, so when he succumbs to his rockist urges, as on the third rate Lenny Kravitz pastiche 'Loose Tongue', the result is frequently less than spectacular.
Embarrassing rock posturing aside, however, one thing that this album does confirm is Neil Finn's breathtaking consistency, over a career spanning more than two decades, in churning out stellar, uplifting, folk tinged anthems. He even manages to lend a heart warming air to the lines "if a double decker bus/ crashes into us" from The Smith's classic 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' - an indisputably groundbreaking moment amidst a defiantly middle of the road but immensely enjoyable folk rock set.
