Sweet Dreams was great to hear - I have heard the last part of it tacked on to a song on a bootleg, I can't remember what song or bootleg off the top of my head.
Also, I had never heard Mary of the South Seas (this was requested early in the show in the only note I saw thrown on stage the whole show). It is a beautiful song.
They seemed to be having a fun time of it, quite a bit of banter, which i don't remember word for word, but perhaps someone else who was there will.
Anyway, it was all in all wonderful, which i'm sure comes as no surprise after all the other show reviews posted!
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THE SHOW was stunning...pure energy from start to close.
There Goes God (a big laugh from the crowd on the "In this town I can't get arrested" line--someone mentioned that Tim had been arrested his last time in Boulder...)
Where is my soul--Neil and Tim had gone off on a "completely trusting look" seen on the face of fans, and instead of "the one I've come to trust," Neil said, "The look I've come to trust"
Mary of the South Seas--a projectile (not an airplane) hit the stage early on requesting this, but they didn't get to it until encore
Tim was in fine form--some fans actually gave him a shirt they had made with his face on it--he said he would give it to his mother. Neil was great on guitar!
I was amazed...I'd never seen them live before (as I've said), but it was worth the wait!! It's hard to believe two men can make a sound that wonderful. EVERYONE sang "I got you<" which made a great closer. There was also a lot of goofiness---Tim calling Phil Jud a bastard, and other assorted silly phrases. Tim also suggested that people in Boulder call themselves "Magnificent People" as opposed to Boulderites (I agree :-))
As for h@ir and p@nts; well, I can't say much about hair, but someone should tell Neil not to mix vertical stripes (p@nts) with a shirt with a degign that looked polka-dotted. Tim wore a suit, no shoes (of course).
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Apparently United Airlines does not always fly the friendly skies on time, so the boys arrived a bit late. But they were still in high spirits(must be the altitude) and we were treated to tons of onstage repoire from the dynamic duo.--Especially funny moment was when Neil saw the flowing locks of the local KBCO dj run offstage after the first encore and, wondering who it(actually a he) was, decided to tell the audience that it was "Harry" the third Finn. Tim injects that Harry is kept locked up in a hut in N.Z. and is of course the main song writer for the duo and is expected to fill the quota of thirty new songs a year. Neil then reveals that every third brother in the South Seas is brought up as a girl making "Harry" the benificiary of being brought up in that tradition. Tim, not really paying attention, asks Neil what is he talking about. Very very funny, obviously more so in person but loads of laughter from all in the venue.
Anyways, enough blithering. Needless to say, it was a heavenly show, esp. with me being able to meet and talk to Neil, who has been such an inspiration and whose music has carried me out of many dark times.
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Got shirts, went back in and found that the opening act had started. It wasn't Ron Sexsmith or Marck Bailey (unfortunately), but another solo guitarist named Stewart Lewis (formerly of Acoustic Junction). He did a good job and the audience was generally polite and receptive. There was a short break then local KBCO DJs came out and introduced the boys. One of them mentioned the story that Tim told the last time he was on Jay Leno where they ended the last Boulder show he played by arresting the sound man, except that the way he told it, Tim was the one arrested.
_Finally_, our boys came on stage. Tim in bare feet and brown suit, Neil in red with white diamonds print shirt and striped trousers. (Hand to God, when I was talking this over with my husband, my almost 26Month old said, "Striped pants? Nooooo!") The set list was virtually identical to the NY show except for the encores. Songs and banter as follows:
- Only Talking Sense
- Poor Boy (with mention by Tim that the nice thing about this tour is that they get to do old Split Enz)
- In Love With It All (with a bit at the end when Tim was playing only one chord and Neil singing "a note's all he's got" or perhaps it was "eighths notes all we got"??)
- Angel's Heap (with obligatory reference to the babysitter who it seems has been downgraded from a fait accompli to a fantasy.)
- There Goes God (Tim sang, "In this town I once got arrested" instead of "in this town I can't get arrested" because of DJ's remarks.)
- A bit of Haul Away after shouted request from audience member.
- Suffer Never
- Time for a Change (Neil looking on in admiration as Tim sings and plays the piano.)
- Paper airplane request arrives on stage and Neil remarks on its craftsmanship. The note asks them to play the song about their mother, Mary. (Mary of the South Seas) They waffle a bit as they aren't sure if they can remember how it goes, then decide it will have to wait until later, after they have "gained the audience's trust." Subsequent remarks about "audiences that trust to much, next on PBS" and Tim telling Neil to show us what a trusting look looks like. (He did a great job, btw.)
- Where is my Soul
- Four Seasons in One Day
- Niwhai (It probably isn't coincidental that it has the line "five satellites in just one night" and is played right after Four Seasons in One Day, is it?)
- Mood Swinging Man (mandatory reference to Richard George Finn.)
- A tiny bit of Please Release Me and reference to all the humperdincks in the audience
- Eyes of the World
- Dirty Creature
- Tim tells us that Grant Thomas is getting a massage somewhere backstage because he is so taut and tight. Laughingly says that they are probably ruining it for him.
- It's Only Natural (done slowly). Neil remarks that Tim is like Liberace--he has no humility. The song of course segues into "you make me feel... you make me feel... you make me feel like a natural woman!)
First Encore
- Tim comes out and says they are going to do another Phil Judd song
though he doesn't know why they are because Phil is such a bastard. "A
dried up, twisted old fruit," Neil adds.
- Sweet Dreams Every Once in a While
- How Will You Go
- Weather With You
Second Encore
- KBCO announcer brings them on again. Neil tries to thank him, but
obviously has no idea who the hell he is so he credits him as being the
elusive Harry Finn whom they keep locked up in a hut in New Zealand,
writing songs for both of them. Neil continues by telling the audience
that it is a South Seas tradition to raise the third son as a girl, but
luckily Tim and he were numbers one and two. Tim has no idea what Neil
is talking about so they start...
-Last Day of June (Tim's turn to look on in admiration as Neil sings and plays piano)
- Mary of the South Seas (very nice, though they did get the words mixed up towards the end.)
- I Got You
Final observations:
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And the most recent amazing coincidence (yes, don't get your hopes up, it *is* minor): while shopping in my local HEB Pantry Foods this evening - not yet one week after seeing (and meeting!) Tim for the first time - what should play over the loudspeakers but "Not Even Close" from Tim's self-titled solo album! I dragged my cart and husband (who understands, bless his soul) into aisle 4 (baking goods) near the speaker. Passers-by must have thought that we were either having a spat and wanted privacy, or that selecting all-purpose or self-rising flour was a monumental decision for us. I hoped for more from Tim, but received for my patience only an unimaginative advert for Pop-Tarts.
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Fave Boulder moments:
In "There Goes God" -- "I'd like to know you, but in this town I once got arrested..." [Does anyone know what Tim did last time he was in Boulder??]
In "It's Only Natural" -- Neil closing with "you make me feel, you make me feel like a natural woman" and then giggling out loud.
"In Love With It All" -- In love with this song, it ends up on all of my CH/Finn mix tapes. Glad they did it for me! *grin*
"What do you call people in Boulder? Boulderites? How about Boulderians?? No, I know -- well call you Magnificent People" ... and then ending every set with "Thank you, Magnificent People!" and "Good night, Magnificent People!"
Tim's drum playing. Has he perfected a new maraca/bongo technique?? Amazing how he played the strings *inside* the piano.
The T-shirt with Tim's face on it -- Neil says "You know, Tim, it would be an incredible act of self-love if you were to wear that t-shirt at the airport tomorrow."
"How Will You Go" -- My fave song off "Woodface," and played beautifully. Did they, or did they not, sound vocally better than ever?
The constant place-changing. Neil at the piano. Tim at the drums. Both up front. Tim at the piano. Neil at the drums. Tim in his own world. Neil in ours.
"Suffer Never" -- Neil and Tim chanting "she's in my head, she's in my home" to end the song. So *thats* how that goes!
"Mary of the South Seas" -- Only heard it once before, and Neil forgot a verse, but Tim covered admirably and ran around the piano after the song, almost hugging Neil ... it almost looked like he was congratulating Neil on getting through the song without openly weeping. Tho its one of their simpler, more beautiful songs, I got the feeling they rarely do it!
"Audiences Who Trust Too Much" -- Tim and Neil's dead-on impressions of star-struck fans, after the *only* flying machine of the night landed on stage.
The powerful singalong for "I Got You" to close a perfect show. Why couldnt they play another hour? Or all night?? What an awesome highlight of both Tims and Neils career. I saw CH in 1994, but this is the way Finn/Finn songs are meant to be heard. Stripped down to their bare essentials -- songs with layers of meaning, stirring melodies and harmonies, and indisputable Finn talent.
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