She said I could go, but not on my own as I was too young to: a) defend myself against all murderers, robbers, junkies, etc that my mother imagined would fill the city this particular evening, b) get in at the Hard Rock Cafe (I wasn't 20 at the time).
My mother said she didn't want to go with me because of a) above, and my older brother said he had a test or something the next day. So it would have to be Dad. While waiting for him to return home, I phoned a few record stores to see if they had any record by "Crowded House". They didn't know what I was talking about.
I spent the afternoon pondering which two Enz members it could be. I reckoned it couldn't be Tim (as he had released a solo album only a few months earlier) so I suspected it would be Neil + someone else (as Neil was the other singer/songwriter in the Enz). So I played a lot of Neil tracks to "get in the mood".
When Dad came home, he was a bit reluctant to go out as he was tired after work and wanted to just take it easy at home. However, after some determined persuasion from me he agreed to follow me.
I changed sweater, to wear my "True Colours" knitted sweater at the gig. Dad and I arrived to the Hard Rock Caf around 8 p.m. The entrance was $8 approximately. "Sorry but we have to charge money tonight as we are going to have live performance tonight" the doorman said.
Inside the Hard Rock Cafe loud music was playing from the jukebox, and I noticed there were several Crowded House posters hanging everywhere. I examined it closer (the picture was the one which appears on the "World Where You Live" cover and the Aussie "Mean To Me" cover - the band with their acoustic equipment playing in a blue living-room). I came to the conclusion that the two Enz members must be Neil Finn and Nigel Griggs (after having discarded the possibility that it was Nigel Griggs and Paul Hester). I asked a waitress if I could buy such a poster. She told me to ask her again after the gig.
On the stage, there was a drum kit belong to Swedish hard rock group Dalton (the closest thing they compare would be Bon Jovi circa 1986). Would Crowded House play on borrowed equipment?
I was standing less than a metre from the stage, with a Coca Cola in my hand. There was not a lot of people there, in fact the next 3 metres behind me were empty. A few people were sitting at the tables eating.
At around 8.30 p.m., a guy entered the stage and started to tune an acoustic guitar. He spent some minutes getting nowhere basically. Three guys, who had been sitting at a table chatting near the stage, entered the stage, and one of them, took the acoustic guitar and tuned it in 10 seconds. The first guy left the stage. The three guys who had entered the stage were obviously Crowded House. The drummer was on far left (seen from my view) with one single drum, the guitarist was standing just beside (just in front of me) and the bassist on the right of the guitarist.
The singer/guitarist stepped up to the microphone and said "Good evening. We're from Down Under, and I'm from New Zealand" and they started to play. It was then I realised that I was standing one metre away from Neil Finn from Split Enz, whose music had been played so much by me. Neil Finn of Split Enz!!!
Crowded House performed an acoustic gig (way before MTV's "Unplugged" became fashionable), mainly songs from the debut LP. The acoustic performance, and the small venue, and the fact I was standing less than a metre from the stage, made it a very intimate performance, a lot more personal than my only previous concert (Dire Straits in a massive hockey arena, in 1985). And the songs, which I hadn't heard before, were REALLY REALLY great. And the band members really seemed to be enjoying themselves, thus affecting the audience to do the same. They smiled and joked a lot. Apart from their own songs, they also performed a superb version of Talking Heads' "Road To Nowhere" (so good that I almost went out and bought the LP it's from) and Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away". In "Love You 'Til The Day I Die" they spontaneously added the chorus of "I See Red". In one of the last songs, "Something So Strong" they played a verse from "Six Months In A Leaky Boat" (I remember noticing that both were Tim tracks). They also performed one track for which, Paul said (I had now realised that the drummer was Paul Hester, as they had called the bassist "Nick"), Nick wrote the music, Paul wrote the words and Neil sang the words!
After the acoustic performance, Crowded House left the stage to an enthustiastic response from those present. I was completely stunned by the gig and the songs and couldn't help but compare it to Dire Straits. Dire Straits played a hockey arena, had lots of equipment and stuff and a massive crowd. Crowded House played acoustically in a small venue with a rather small crowd, but managed to create a much better atmosphere. Or, to put it another way, Dire Straits gave the impression of being a bunch professional musicians who did a *job*. Crowded House gave the impression of three friends playing together because it was *fun*.
I went up to the waitress I had spoken to before the gig about the CH poster, and I again asked her if I could buy one poster. She said I could have one for free and took one down for me. But before handing it over to me, she said "I think you should have it signed as well" and she vanished into the kitchen area. She returned a few minutes later with a fully signed poster. I checked the bassist's name and it was "Nick Seymour". Paul had drawn a saints' gloria above his own head and devil's horn and a devil's tail on Nick, as well as a house with three faces in it. "You can go upstairs and speak to them, if you like" the waitress offered. I wasn't going to turn down an offer like that, but during the walk through the kitchen and to the second floor, my head was filled with worrying questions: "What will they be like? What shall I ask them about? Will Neil Finn be upset if I mention Split Enz? Does he feel bitter about having to play this venue after having played much bigger venues with Split Enz? What if they're arrogant, unpleasant divas?".
The first person that Dad and I met upstairs was a guy from the record company who informed us that Neil was doing an interview and could we please wait just a moment.
The next person who came up to us was Paul Hester, who introduced himself (and I told him my name as well...). He commented on how great my sweater looked and asked who had done it. "My mother" I told him. "Could your mother make one for me too?" he jokingly asked. Paul said that they had seen me during the gig and noted the sweater, so they had spontaneously played bits of two Split Enz songs in their own songs (he probably said this just to be nice). They had been very surprised about that, he said, because they had figured that Sweden would be the last country in the world where anyone would have heard of Split Enz. Crowded House had come to Sweden to test their material on an audience who hadn't heard them before, and that it had been arranged quite quickly. In fact, they had been in London that morning, and had been invited over the same day by the Swedish record company (a sidenote to that is that there were no ads or anything for the gig). He inquired how I had heard about it, and I mentioned that my mother had heard it on the radio.
When Paul heard I didn't own "See Ya Round", he offered to get me one copy and he took my address. He also gave me a lot of funny gossip regarding the other former Enz members:
*Eddie had played on Paul McCartney's "Press" LP that year, and Paul said Eddie was so proud about having played with McCartney that he spent the entire flight home to Australia with his nose in the air...
*Some Enz member's wife (Eddie's, Noel's or Nigel's) had a stomach which was "this big" and he showed with his hands just how big. I understood she was pregnant, but unless she was expecting 7 or 8 babies I think Paul exaggerated just a little.
*Neil Finn's 3-year-old son "plays drums and shouts 'I See Red, I See Red, I See Red' and 'Six Months In A Leaky Boat'...he's out for my job!!!"
Paul was really funny and very nice. After a while, when Nick had also joined the discussion, Paul went downstairs to check out the "headliners" (Dalton) but returned unimpressed. Meanwhile, Nick had come up to me, and he too commented on how great my "True Colours" sweater looked. He then inquired if I had heard Tim's new album. I said yes and he was happy to hear that I liked it. Nick mentioned that they had performed with Tim in London only a few days earlier, and then offered this interesting quote: "Tim wants to join Crowded House now. He wants to play again with his brother, he wants them to make a classic together." Interestingly, Nick and my father actually discussed Australian rock music.
When Paul returned, the gang of us now featured Paul, Nick, the record company guy, Dad and me. Paul asked if I owned the Crowded House LP. I told him that I had first heard of them today, and that no record store I had phoned had had it, but that I would buy it in a few days. Paul turned to the EMI guy and said, "I noticed that you had a spare copy of the LP with you. How about giving it to this fan?". The EMI guy produced a copy of the LP, and both Paul and Nick signed it (and Paul drew a cross around himself, so that he looks like he's being crucified on the cover). Paul went into the room where Neil was doing his interview and returned with Neil's autograph on the cover.
We were now told we could enter the "interview room". The first thing that happened was that Neil asked me who had done my "True Colours" sweater. I answered that and sat down in a chair next to Neil and the interviewer's sofa. The interviewer was in fact Mans Ivarsson, one of Sweden's most famous rock journalists (he writes for the evening paper Expressen) and also a sometimes controversial journalist.
Embarrassingly, my first question to Neil was the pathetic "Is this["I Walk Away" on the LP] a new version?". He said yes and then *he* asked me questions. He asked me how I became a fan and what albums I had. I began to rattle off titles, and Neil commented, smilingly, "That should be enough for anyone!" (On this point, I did not agree with him at all...).
It should be said that Neil had caught a cold and was sounding a lot more like Rod Stewart than himself. That made quite an impression. He could easily have said he couldn't speak to me due to him having lost his voice (that would have been completely reasonable too) but he didn't mind discussing with me. Not every "rock star" would do something like that. Mans Ivarsson took part in the discussion too.
After a while, we decided it was time to get home(we had been told that there would be a radio interview 11 p.m.) and spare at least a little of Neil's voice. (When we said goodbye to the band and to Mr. Ivarsson, I jokingly said "See ya 'round" to Paul and he replied "I'll try and get you that album", to which Neil asked "What album?". Paul said "See ya 'round" and Neil commented, "Yeah, that's a good album").
It had been a perfect perfect evening - fantastic gig, a signed poster, a signed LP and a chat with all the band. And they were all really nice guys, with no hint at all of any rock star divas.
Dad and I came home a few minutes before 11 p.m., gave my mother a brief re-run of what had happened before I rushed into my room and turned on the radio... a few minutes later the interview came on (which also featured Neil - in his Rod Stewart voice - performing "Mean To Me" on acoustic guitar).
It had been a great experience and Mans Ivarsson's article a week later was really nice too.
As long as I'm alive, I won't forget the first time I saw Crowded House live.