I have to put the show in my top five all time shows.
Neil and Tim exceeded my expectations. Highlights included:
1) The gorgeous harmonies! Neil was brilliant, but Tim was absolutely amazing. Soaring above Neil and hitting notes I haven't heard him hit in years. He was inspired. Maybe it was the massage he had earlier in the day!
2) Several songs brought spontaneous tears to my eyes. It's Only Natural was beyond brilliant.
3) The humor and love between them was so obvious last night. Neil played MTMG (the only request he played) and the audience sang loudly in appreciation. Then he said, "I have a request for Tim: In Love With It All." The audience responded in kind to Tim. Very touching.
4) "I Got You" on the ukelele, audience singing. (Snippets of Led Zep, Eric Clapton, and Deep Purple thrown in)
5) Neil's guitar solos. Wow! The Fillmore rocked with the ghosts of more than one famous dead guitar player!
6) Meeting all the listies and Jim's awesome paper airplanes.
7) Liam and Elroy throwing paper airplanes and paper plates to the stage from the balcony.
8) Meeting Mr. Green
I can't think of everything now...my brain is reeling.
Lowlights:
1) KFOG f**cking up the live broadcast. If there was ever a time I wanted a copy of a show!
2) Neil said The Smurf's album knocked RD out of the top spot in the UK ;-)
3) No Fillmore poster to commemorate the show.
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Only the top five?
It's hard to believe that just *that much* sound can come from two musicians.
Highlights from where I was sitting:
Hearing the better half of woodface, as it was meant to be all along.
...Watching (what seemed like) fifty airplanes landing on stage, all at once.
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I was in two minds whether to post at all, having concluded that this list was populated by dangerous obsessives and I'd be wise to distance myself a bit (HA HA HA HA - nice to meet all who I ran into in San Francisco :-) My travelling companion Cheryl assumed that everyone who looked a bit on the keen side *must* be a listie and kept going up to these wild eyed non list people and asking them their email address only to be greeted by wilder and bewildered eyes) But as I'm stuck in yet another airport for yet another long wait on my way home, I thought I'd pass the time jotting down a few thoughts for posting later.
My journey was long but worth it. The details couldn't be more boring, but Cheryl and I shared 'mummy' duties and managed to muddle ourselves through pretty successfully, I thought. Lovely to see the Finns all looking well. Neil and Tim look excellent - Neil's hair and fashion sense are perfect and he stands out in any street as a star. The kids are cute (I've two remarkably cute sons of my own aged 10 and 4 so I'm very hard to impress :-) ) and Sharon remains a tremendously cool looking wee woman. (unlike me - still struggling with newly short hair I felt like a real dork - M today).
Cheryl and I saw the soundcheck thanks to a sweet natured and generous member of the entourage whom I like very much. Married, I believe, which makes no difference to me, but came as no small disappointment to a few young ladies, I can tell you ;-)
Seeing as I didn't get to stand speechless in front of Neil after the show, I was fool not to take the opportunity to acost him while we were hanging around inside between the soundcheck and and concert, but he was bustling about and I'm a dead loss at that when it comes to him. I can chat up bouncers/strangers on busses/priests/other pop stars etc etc like there's no tomorrow, but Neil's a different story. I did manage to bump into him coming out of the toilet. I still can't think what I was doing going into the men's toilet which was in an entirely different area from the ladies', but I certainly seemed to be. I stood like an animal caught in a car's headlamps and Neil said sorry. He's forgiven.
At one point in the soundcheck, wee Elroy took a fit of laughing for no apparent reason which had his daddy very puzzled.
That busiest of bees Peter Green flitted past and was correctly identified by me. He spent considerable time paying great attention to all his fans and we discussed hair. His hairdresser was at the show, despite having failed to get his hair the burgundy colour he wanted. He seemed concerned that I'd cut my long red hair off, which was very sweet, since he's never seen me with it. (I guess it looked bad enough to warrant his concern. Still it was nice to know that people close to the Finns have a healthy interest in really important things - M today).
Right. Is that enough 'colour'? Far too much, I think. On with the show -
The show's the thing. I'll leave it to the more organised among us for set lists and particular details. I hope I get a tape because it was a wheaker (sp?) The men came out in great form and continued that way for the duration. Tim was great. Sounded sublime. The two of them - they sounded so good it was unearthly - you know - it sounded like heaven. Pure, clear, confident, rhythmic. I have never heard anything so good. The Finns are the best and *we* saw them! (sorry if that sounds a bit triumphalist to those not fortunate enough to have seen the show, but this applies to all who have taken them to their heart - I could have written 'the Finns are the best and they're *ours*', but that sounds a bit creepy - M today). There were no lowlights. Read the set list and put a big tick and star beside each one. Some folk complained about the sound quality, but I never noticed anything wrong.
A personal highlight was "It's Only Natural" which took on a whole new personality and turned quite mystical at the end with Neil's counterpoint of indistinguishable tuneful and rhythmic ranting sounding like religious ecstasy. I'd love to know what he was singing - ah who cares!!!!!!!!!
And 'Suffer Never' (word of warning - I believe this performance had a shocking effect on me at the time and for quite some time afterwards. I apologise in advance - M today). All of it was perfect and especially Neil's solo. Using a guitar, he painted a breathtaking musical picture of where the physical and spiritual meld and become one conscious altering experience. I believe, after a couple of beers, I may have described this less poetically to one or two of my companions, but thankfully they're much too well mannered to repeat it. Right??!! Neil, pet, would you quit smoking - you're far too precious.
Tim and Neil both were jjust a picture of gorgeous humanity. God only knows what their reality is for the most part, but on that stage they were transmuted into channels of the divine, the result of years of nuturing their musical gifts. Music is a divine creation and they are being good caretakers of it and whether they or we realise it, we are all reaping the reward (blimey - I was really sent, wasn't I? I think I was right, though.- M today Oh there's more..........) I have been in some pretty rotten depths lately through rotten circumstances and now things have started to turn around. The Finns' music is by no means responsible for the upswing (I'm so glad I said that - M today), but their life affirming noise certainly falls into the postive influence camp.
Big tick, star and keep up the good work - together or alone.
PHEW! I think I liked it!
Just a couple of other thoughts:
Neil did indeed beat out I Got You on the ukelele at Tim's request.. It took a while to get right and we all sang along to help out (me and the rest of the yahoos up front - although I must point out that *I* had nothing to do with the one or two really annoying people who kept banging on the stage and trying to get Neil's attention nor the idiot who asked that they spoke in English and got on with the music instead of talking. I turned round and gave him a fierce stare.) Neil reckoned the line about the pageant was the worst line ever in rock or something, but I think he's forgotten about Paul McC's peasant line .......
I've been thinking about I Got You. I still remember it stopping me in my tracks when I heard it on the radio. I remember the exact spot in my first wee house where I stood and listened. I remember being astonished that it was Split Enz (having seen them in their art rock guise here and there in the media) I remember thinking it was brilliant - really exciting - really a sign of a new direction towards something that wasn't a rehash of old pop, but a new melodic sensibility with such the right amount of reference to those who deserved it. I innocently thought it was a new 'new wave'. And then I heard no more of it. Enthusiastically over the years, if the name Split Enz ever came up (not often) I would say 'oh they had this brilliant single - I love them.' When I started listening to modern music again about four years ago, it was this memory of I Got You that made me interested in listening to Woodface. 'Was it *really* him?' I thought, when David (who knows everything) held out the carrot and suggested I try listening to it. 'Really???! He was still doing it? Really?!'
Yes and he still is. That Finn show was wonderful. I'm so glad I was there. I hope they have a good rest now and I can't wait to hear what comes next from both of them. I just love them and although I'll never be able to do it, I want to hug them both really tight and thank them for it all.
Sorry to sound so moony. I wish I could get this across in a more robust sounding way. Maybe next time...
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