by Helen Lilley

"Wow" is the first thing I have to say about Neils show in Perth last night, it was incredible! As for the band, they were really, really good too. Their playing perfectly suited all the songs, the band rocked!

Neil played everything off Try Whistling This except "Dream Date." He also played some Crowdies songs and "I Got You," which totally went off. My highlights were "King Tide," "Sinner," "I Got You," "Suffer Never" (which worked surprisingly well without Tim) and "Faster Than Light." But the best parts were when he played "Catherine Wheels" and Don't Dream It's Over."

Neil asked if there were any requests so I screamed out "Catherine Wheels," one of my all-time fave songs. I was so surprised when Neil said "'Catherine Wheels,' alright Ill give it a go, you might have to prompt me on the words, but I'm sure someone out there knows them." or words to that effect. He started playing it, promptly forgot the words and kept trying to remember them. I ended up calling out some of the lyrics for him. My little brush with fame :-) He got through it pretty well and finished it up nicely. So if anyone at the Perth show was wondering where the "Catherine Wheels" request and lyrics prompt came from IT WAS ME :-))))

"Don't Dream It's Over" was done with just Neil and his acoustic, with the keys player jumping in to do the solo. It was going very well, sounding great and Neil kept comming closer and closer to the edge of the stage. He then FELL OFF the stage right at the feet of the first row, and kept playing. He was standing right in front of me, singing with out a mike as the crowd all sung "Don't Dream It's Over" while Neil walked around the front off the audience. I saw a few tears in a few eyes during that.

Some of us went backstage to try and meet Neil after the show. We were pretty sucessful, he didnt really stop to chat, just signed his was through the crowd (signed my "Sinner" single) and a few lucky people got photos with him.