What a fantastic show... Miller played a 45 minute set solo, rocking the stage like he was fronting a band. He played most of "The Instigator" and a few Old 97's tunes, and told a couple stories about living in NYC (Miller lived a couple blocks from the WTC when they fell). His solo songs come off much more personally in a live setting then on his slightly over-produced album. (Note to NancyB...Miller comes out to the merch table to meet his fans after his set...Try to control yourself ) Finn's set was nothing short of amazing. He played a great mix of songs from all periods of his career, focusing on the best songs from "One All". He took a few requests, including one for an old song from a fan who brought the request to the stage in the shape of a homemade piece of chocolate! The song was so obscure that he actually had to take a minute to try to remember the chording, and ended up having an audience member instruct him where to capo his guitar to play it correctly...needless to say, the song turned out beautifully. My personal favorites were a killer "History Never Repeats" (the Split Enz classic which a fledgling Finn fan behind me confidently told his friend "This must be a new one"...) and a great cover of The Smiths' "There's A Light That Never Goes Out" which he dedicated to Johnny Marr. Easily one of the best and most entertaining shows I've ever seen.
Do you remember the name of the song, by any chance? Was it a Split Enz, Crowded House or Finn Brothers song?
Re: Re: Neil Finn/Rhett Miller @ Town Hall, NYC 1-29-03 (R) Nails In My Feet--Crowded House, from "Together Alone"
Re: Re: Neil Finn/Rhett Miller @ Town Hall, NYC 1-29-03 (R) Rollerskate Skinny, Designs On You, & Alone So Far
Footix - I was at this show in DC on 1/28, so I saw the show before you, but didn't get around to the review. I like Rhett Miller, but still would have preferred to see him with band. I missed the chance to see him in person, dang. He also did an in-store that I missed, but I'll live. I'm kind of shy around celebs anyway. Neil Finn was amazing. I only recognized one song, because not familiar with much from either of his bands or his solo stuff. But it didn't matter. I still loved the show. At my show, Finn had two guys who were going nuts in front of the stage join him on the stage to sing backup vocals. One of them asked if he could also play guitar and Finn said yes. Then, someone gave Finn his band's self-produced cd. Finn had the cd passed back to the sound guy, who played the first song on it. The band started playing along for a while, then Finn declared it not bad and they went back to their show.
Re: Re: Re: Neil Finn/Rhett Miller @ Town Hall, NYC 1-29-03 (R) At my show, he did Rollerskate, Murder or a Heart Attack and another that I'm drawing a blank on. I'm envious about Designs on You, because I love that song. Neil Finn also took a request at my show and he played something he described as a song he hadn't played in a long time. It was almost punk, really, and very different from the rest.
Re: Re: Re: Neil Finn/Rhett Miller @ Town Hall, NYC 1-29-03 (R) Very nice. It's massively disappointing he hasn't come down to Atlanta. He came here in support of Try Whistling This, and the turnout was remarkable.
That's so cool. I love when a band is comfortable enough with themselves that they can deviate from a setlist. He played a couple other requests than the one I listed at "my" show. One of the best parts of the show was when the band could hear a radio station transmission coming through one of the amps on stage...they had the sound guy turn up that particular amp, and the band played along with the noise.
Not bad, could have been better. I always enjoy Neil, and I love Town Hall as a relaxed venue (especially since I had seats in the cushy loge section), but this wasn't necessarily his best. Rhett was very good, perhaps better than I would have thought given that he was a bandleader playing solo. The crowd ate him up. Neil's set started like gangbusters -- Now We're Getting Somewhere, Anytime, Pineapple Head, Locked Out -- followed by several good One Nil songs, but the middle third dragged significantly with a very slow new song and a few tracks from somewhere (obscure Split Enz? 1st solo album?) but things picked up with Human Kindness, finishing the regular set with She Will Have Her Way. Encores: There Is A Light... (very cool), Last To Know (I think), Weather With You; I Got You, Don't Dream It's Over. Before Weather With You Neil asked if someone wanted to come up and sing the high harmony, which was cool, but the guy who jumped on stage was a total jackass who took his singing way, way too seriously and, after getting dissed by the guitarist, stood in the back and shook his fat ass back and forth for a couple of minutes. What ever happened to general decency? Worth the time & money overall, but it looks like I missed Hole In The River from Wednesday. Basically I have to take that first Crowded House disc out of the cobwebs.