by Annette Pullin

It was, in a word, BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!

Bic Runga (New Zealand singer/songwriter) opened for Neil, performing songs that were mostly taken from her album, Drive. She played for about half an hour.

Then Neil came on, and gave an absolutely stunning performance. He played most of the songs from Try Whistling This, as well as "Tokyo" (he made the same reference to the Japanese rock star's home that he and Tim visited, where all manner of drugs were in abundance, that I have heard reported here in previous reviews -- plus his assurance that he didn't partake in any of it), and a lot of Crowded House songs ("Not the Girl You Think You Are," "Fall at Your Feet," "Chocolate Cake," "Catherine Wheels," "Private Universe," "Distant Sun," and "Don't Dream It's Over"), "Suffer Never," and even a Split Enz number ("I Got You").

The highlights were "Catherine Wheels" (which was one of the requests that Neil played), which he admitted was going to be dodgy as he wasn't sure if he could remember all the words or not! Halfway through, a very embarrassed smile appeared on his face as he couldn't remember how the rest of the song went! He was very gracious about it and he got a lot of applause.

He got political in "Chocolate Cake" when he mentioned Pauline Hanson (a fairly radical politician here)" "I saw Pauline Hanson walk out of a 7-11", and "May the excess of fat on your One Nation bones/ cushion the impact as you sink like a stone".

During a later song he must have been distracted, as he wandered to the front edge of the stage while he was playing, and then he just slipped right off the front of the stage! He kept playing, and was very professional about it, but he was also very obviously surprised. He said to the person whose lap he almost ended up in: "I was drawn to you like a magnet". He kept saying through the show that he was having a lot of fun (even before the stage diving incident) and that he was really enjoying playing requests and so on.

Liam played guitar on most of the songs, and drums for a few of them as well, and seemed to be having a great time. It was really great show, very entertaining! He played for about two hours or so and it was a really top show. You northern hemisphere folks are in for a real treat.