by Jon-Paul Hansen

After a wonderful pre-gig gathering which involved a bunch of Aucklanders, some NZ-living Europeans, and very briefly some Wellingtonians and Americans, we all headed down to the St James, bought merchandise off Nicole & Peter, and caught the great poppy sounds of Stereo Bus.

After 20 minutes of twilight after Stereo Bus's set, the lights went out, and a booming voiceover announces, to a wall of screaming and yelling; "Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the one and only... Ronnie Ronalde."

Ronnie shuffled on stage, in his splendid burgundy, gold buttoned suit. He was accompanied by some fellow on the keyboard. Who you say, *is* this geriatric New Zealander? He was the secret special guest, and is the worlds greatest whistler, of course. We were treated to ten or fifteen miutes of superb lip-puckering birdsong, note-bends, and ear piercing whistling. The crowd was going wild (well, at least row four!).

As Ronnie left to a standing ovation, Neil and the band took their places on stage, and as expected kicked off with "Last One Standing."

A bit of insight was offerered into some of the new tracks -- "Tokyo" was inspired by a Japanese pop-stars lavish lifestyle -- said Neil: "When Tim & I visited his house there was more of the stuff Paul McCartney got busted for on the table than he'd smoked in his life."

Also, Neil said "Souvenir" is about what goes on backstage with fans after a gig. It makes you never want to head back there after a show! The song makes perfect sense now!

"Private Universe" was much better than when the band played it at TABAC a few months back: the drumming had that pacific, tribal feel to it. In fact, the band was much tighter all-round, and Liam was magnificent.

Laurie Knight mentioned in her great review of the Wellington concert:

Liam played guitar and drums alternately through the night; he looked like yer typical weedy teenager, and not particularly enjoying the spotlight.

Not enjoying the spotlight -- hell, he's 14 years old! He IS the new Mark Hart! His playing was fantastic. Sure he didn't look at the audience or say anything bar "Sucks!" when Dad asked him what "Lost in Space," (which was premiering in the adjacent theater) was like. "Well, he's the target audience," said Neil. I'd be very interested to see what Liam's like by the end of the tour! I'd say the Frenz of the Enz is going to be going for at least another generation.

Some of the highlights were when the keyboard cut out half way through "Message to My Girl," and Neil carried on a cappella, with the audience helping out.

I loved hearing "I Got You" played straight, which I've only ever heard live once before, on the Enz Anniversary tour. Neil even pulled out the old shoulder-shrugging, eyebrow-raising Enz thing during the guitar solos!

The Row-4 harmonies on "Don't Dream It's Over" even impressed Neil, and lead to a huge singalong by the crowd. Oh, and Neil also did the ol' fluffed line thing which makes him so endearing. "Now I'm walk--towing the car ..."

Oh, and also, Ronnie Ronalde came back on stage and accompanied the band by whistling through "Try Whistling This." Amazing stuff!

I remember people raving about the lighting during the Finn tour. Well this blows that away completely.

There was a fair bit of banter between the crowd and Neil, including a running joke with the women who would say "Hi Neil," "Hi Robert," "Hi Herbie ..." etc, as they were introduced. Umm, I guess you had to be there, but it was funny!