Live: Tim Finn
By Tim Murray • Nov 12th, 2009 • Section: Music
Tim Finn
Athenaeum Theatre
November 7, 2009
Over 20 albums, film and television scores, a musical; Tim Finn’s career may have slipped under the radar to a few, but certainly not to those at the Athenaeum on Saturday night. When you’ve been involved in the history of popular music to that kind of degree, you’re probably entitled to a sell-out anthology tour.
And if you’re lucky enough to be in the crowd of one of those sold-out shows, you’re in for a cracker.
In a career that started somewhere in the early 70s and is still going, there’s plenty of material for Mr Finn to draw from to piece together a real ride for the live audience. When you’re drawing from eight albums of Split Enz stuff, eight solo albums, a Crowded House hit, a couple of Finn Brothers releases and some other bits and pieces, the challenge is keeping the set list to something manageable.
I feel obliged to use the ‘Mr’ prefix, not just because of the OBE he’s got after his name, but because when you’re taken through the trip that is the career of Tim Finn, you realise how much respect this man must be paid.
So this manageable set list began with his vaudevillian tale of woe, in the classic Enz number ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’, and it didn’t let up for the next two hours and two encores. Backed by a 5-piece band, including ex-Split Enz and Crowded House master Eddie Raynor on keys, whatever Mr Finn had lost in vocal purity over the years was compensated for by the band.
As he waded through the classics and the ‘not as classic but still very good’, the one thing that became increasingly obvious was that this bloke’s knack of crafting a quality tune could not be questioned.
It was also obvious that he still had that Split Enz stage eccentricity coursing through the veins. Sure, it’s toned down a little these days, and gone are the costumes and bouffant hair, but the energy remains.
So what does a Tim Finn anthology sound like?
It sounds like Split Enz titles ‘My Mistake’, ‘Dirty Creature’, ‘I See Red’, an off the cuff rendition of ‘Hermit McDermitt’, ‘Bold as Brass’, ‘She Got Body, She Got Soul’ and ‘Maybe’ – all great songs in their own right. But when you look at the Split Enz playlist, you could probably pick out at least half a dozen others that you would’ve also liked to have heard on the night.
Then there’s the Crowded House numbers too. Sure, Tim Finn was only present for the Woodface album, but he picked a decent album to be a part of. ‘Chocolate Cake’ and ‘Weather With You’ got a run, but again, any of the songs on that album would’ve been crowd pleasers.
The rest of the set was littered with old and new. His biggest hits from his solo career were always going to be on the bill – ‘Fraction Too Much Friction’ and ‘Made My Day’ – there was some Finn Brothers stuff, one or two from his ‘Poor Boy’ musical and even treated to a couple of newies.
I have to admit, I wasn’t too familiar with some of the new stuff, but then it seemed Mr Finn wasn’t overly familiar with it either at times. But it only served for more entertaining repartee between old pals Finn and Raynor.
And I think it’s fair to say that Raynor influence on the career of Tim Finn should similarly not be underrated, judged by some to be as influential to the Split Enz sound than anyone else in the band. It was no surprise that Neil Finn enlisted him to help his fledgling band, Crowded House, in the 80s. So seeing him on stage on Saturday night was as much a treat for the audience as it would’ve been for Mr Finn.
In the end, amazingly, a career that spans over 30 years and numerous hits, was somehow whittled down to a bang-up 2-hour show.
Thanks Mr Finn for the two hours and the 30 years.
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