Recently I came across a question on social media: “which musical act have you seen play live the most times”? I can answer that question very easily: Crowded House. In reading the responses to that question, it struck me that I should write something about all the Crowded House shows I’ve seen.

I first became aware of Crowded House when I saw them doing a live interview on the MuchMusic TV channel. I knew about Split Enz, the band that Neil Finn was previously part of – I actually interviewed them in 1980, when their single “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” was a big hit in Canada, and they played a show in Vancouver. The interview was at their hotel (the Holiday Inn on Broadway, for trivia fans) and I spent most of the time talking to Eddie Rayner, the keyboard player, because as soon as I arrived at their hotel suite, the rest of the band members seemed to disappear.  I remember them all being kind of shy and sweet, and somewhat overwhelmed by the publicity that was suddenly whirling around them. So when I saw Crowded House on MuchMusic, I clearly remember saying to my husband, “Oh, look, Neil Finn has a new band.”

Crowded House’s music hits me in a way that I really can’t explain. The songs are brilliant in and of themselves, but it just seems like so many of them spoke to whatever I was feeling or doing at the time I first heard them. I can’t imagine my world without that music.

It’s funny, though, that in thinking back on these shows, I don’t remember a lot of details, like specific songs that were played. That may be because every show has been incredible. There’s not a single show on this list that was boring, or a shameless money grab, or not worth the price of the ticket. Not too many bands can be that consistently excellent for nearly 40 years.

So here’s the stories of the shows I’ve seen, including a few extra ones. To shorten this very lengthy narrative somewhat, I’ll refer to Crowded House as “CH” throughout. And if this post is too long for you, don’t TL:DR me – read as much or as little as you want, it’s all good.

August 30, 1987: Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver

I know I was at this show, but I was so excited that I don’t remember much about it. I’m pretty sure I screamed and applauded a lot.

March 31, 1989: Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver

Roger McGuinn was the opening act. While I respect the Byrds as legends and highly influential, I didn’t enjoy a lot of their music. I was not thrilled at having to sit through a set by McGuinn. Some of my friends came to the show just to see McGuinn, and left as soon as CH started, which I thought was heresy. I grumbled quite loudly about having to listen to this old hippie – sorry, Byrds fans – but by the end of his set he won me over. He played a few songs with CH, too.

Tim Finn: August 8, 1989, Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver

Tim, the co-founder of Split Enz, was trying to make a solo career in North America. His very fine album Before and After had just been released, and suddenly he was booked to open a few shows for 10,000 Maniacs. The ads the week before the show looked like this: 10,000 Maniacs [very large print] with Tim Finn [very small print]. Luckily, the local CH fan community noticed the small print, and a lot of us ran out and bought tickets for the show. We all stood at the front of the stage and cheered and clapped for Tim, which he really seemed to appreciate. I don’t remember much about 10,000 Maniacs, except wondering how Natalie Merchant didn’t dislocate her neck by whipping her hair around that much.

September 1, 1991: Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver

I was looking forward to this show more so than usual, because Tim was now part of CH. However, a few weeks earlier, while we were out of town at a conference, our house was broken into and robbed – and among the items that were stolen were the tickets to the show. We got replacement tickets, but when we went into the theatre, two people were sitting in our seats. They had bought “our” tickets from some guy on the street outside. Unfortunately the perp was long gone, and the people in our seats were really apologetic. The manager gave them seats in another part of the theatre, and we all enjoyed the show. (We know who the burglar was, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him.)

April 27, 1994: Theatre St-Denis, Montreal

April 28, 1994: Ottawa Civic Centre 

These two shows were exceptionally memorable. We were living in Prince Edward Island, where very few acts ever toured. Capitol Records had initially refused to release the band’s Together Alone album in Canada (I had only heard it because my friend Derek Miller (RIP) taped an import copy and mailed the tape to me) and I was genuinely afraid that if I missed this CH tour I would never get to see them again. I had acquired enough frequent flyer points to travel round-trip from PEI to Montreal, which was the closest show to PEI on the tour, and as a member of the online CH fan group, I knew there would be people at both shows that I could hang out with. Although I had never travelled that far for a concert, and it felt a little excessive, I decided to go.

I arrived in Montreal the night before the show. In the morning, my dad called to tell me that his brother, my Uncle Neil, had suddenly passed away from a heart attack. I asked if I should fly back to Vancouver, but he told me to go to the shows. Then there was apparently some controversy during the day when Sheryl Crow, the opening act, was booked for a record store appearance, but CH, the headliners, weren’t. This was interpreted as further evidence of Capitol Records trying to dump CH (narrator: and later, that’s exactly what happened). CH were also in something of a chaos because drummer Paul Hester had quit the band a few days earlier and gone back to Australia. Wally Ingram from Crow’s band was filling in and learning as he went.

The show itself was wonderful. I sat in the second row with several of my online friends. We clapped very generously for Sheryl Crow, and she gave us a lovely smile at the end of her set. Wally did a great job as the unexpected new addition to CH. “Wally from Sheryl Crow” will always have a special place in CH fan lore.

After the show, some of us decided to wait in the parking lot behind the theatre to see if we could meet the band. The parking lot was freezing cold, with a nasty wind blowing, and there was a wonky three-legged chair lying near a dumpster. The oldest member of our group promptly (albeit carefully) claimed the chair and sat on it. He and his daughter had driven up from Vermont that day, and by this time he was getting quite tired.

Nick Seymour came out and had a very pleasant chat with us – he was very impressed and somewhat chuffed to learn how far some of us had travelled to see the show. I tried to explain to him where Prince Edward Island was; I think the best I did was “You’ve played in Halifax, right? Well, if you drove out of Halifax and went north for about three hours and then took a ferry ….that’s where you’d end up.”

The next morning, I had breakfast and set out to catch the bus to Ottawa. But I had unknowingly eaten some dodgy eggs, and by the time the bus reached its destination, I was feeling woozy and nauseous. I went to the venue with another online friend – the show was in what was basically a ballroom in a convention centre – and we sat quietly at the back for part of the soundcheck, until a crew member noticed us and asked us to leave.

I then met some university friends for dinner, by which time my face was apparently several shades of ashen grey. We went to an Indian restaurant, which I was so excited about because there were no Indian restaurants in PEI and I missed Indian food. But I felt so horrible that I couldn’t really eat much. Then midway through dinner I went to the washroom and threw up pretty much everything I’d eaten for the past day or so. Oddly, I felt a lot better after that, and was more than ready for the show.

At the show, my online friends had to hold me up at some points because I was so wobbly, but I had a fantastic time. The acoustics were…not ideal, but the audience was extremely enthusiastic. A mosh pit sprang up during “Locked Out”, which wasn’t something I ever expected to see at a CH show, and during the encores Nick recognized me in the audience and pointed at me and smiled. That was pretty special.

I think I slept for a couple of days when I got home.

ALT: December 9, 1995, Town Pump, Vancouver

ALT was a collaboration between Tim, Andy White, and Hothouse Flowers’ Liam Ó Maonlaí. The local CH fans were thrilled that they were going to play in Vancouver, because we never expected them to come here. A group of us got together for dinner beforehand, although we were puzzled when one person left before the meal was over and wouldn’t tell us why. We went to the venue and got a table, and then our friend reappeared and sat down with us. It turned out that she had been told she might be able to get on the bill as the first opening act, but things fell through and it didn’t happen. Too bad, she would have been terrific.

The (other) opening act was Francis Dunnery, who played a really great set. After he finished, we left our table and went to stand in front of the stage. One of our group, Anna, was eight months pregnant, and we all stood close around her so she wouldn’t get jostled too much by the crowd. ALT were interesting – I don’t think it was one of their best nights, but it was great just to get to see them play live. Each of them did a song from their own catalogue, which was really fun. Anna had her baby a few weeks after the show; we joked that she should name him Andy or Tim or Liam, but she decided to call him Alex, which is a nice name too.

Neil Finn: February 17, 2003, Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver

 In 1996, Crowded House put out a “greatest hits” compilation, and played its Farewell To The World concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. And that was it. So the next time I saw a Finn-related live show, it was when Neil was touring as a solo act.

Rhett Miller opened, and what a charming performer he was. He sang some heartfelt, genuinely romantic songs that were so sweet, the women in the audience were going “awwwww”. Neil and his band, including violinist/singer Lisa Germano, did an amazing set, but there are two moments at this show that really stood out for me.

Moment #1: Neil’s son Elroy, who was 12, came out during the encore and played the drums for “Fall At Your Feet”, which is a really difficult song with a lot of subtle rhythmic nuances. He did it perfectly, and got very loud cheers and applause.

Moment #2: At that time, I was in an administrative job at my workplace, and even though I had a wonderful co-administrator, the job was stressing me out and was becoming less and less interesting. During the show, I was jumping up and down on the dance floor, thoroughly enjoying the music, and suddenly I thought, “Doing things like this is who I am. I want to have fun. I don’t want to be miserable any more.” The very next day I went into work and told my co-worker I was quitting and going back to my old job. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Thanks, Neil!

September 3, 2007, Malkin Bowl, Vancouver

Well, what do you know, CH got back together. This show was supposed to be at one of Vancouver’s city-run theatres, but the theatre staff were about to go on strike, so the show was moved to this outdoor venue in Stanley Park. It was late enough in the summer that the hordes of mosquitoes were gone, but instead we got the other Vancouver outdoor show experience: rain. We sat on two black plastic garbage bags, trying to stay dry, and I had another black plastic garbage bag draped over my head and shoulders.

The main thing I remember about this show was that Neil did a solo version of “Message to My Girl” which is one of my very favourite Split Enz songs. When I recognized the first chords of the song, I was so thrilled that I shrieked and fell over, and landed right in a puddle of water that had accumulated in the grass. By the end of the night we were thoroughly soaked, but it was still a superb show.

August 29, 2010, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver

Somehow we managed to score seats in the fifth row to the right of the stage. It was quite an experience seeing CH that close up in a theatre that large. This tour was for the Intriguer album, which I have to admit isn’t among my top CH albums, but I thought the songs were a lot better live. Part of the stage decorations at this show were several life-size light-up plastic geese (like this), and during the encores, when the audience was standing right next to the stage, some of the people at the front picked up the geese and made them dance in time to the music.

May 2, 2023, Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver

This show got postponed three times – twice because of the pandemic, and then once more when Elroy (now grown up) hurt his back and couldn’t play the drums. This was the first live show I went to after the pandemic. I didn’t feel entirely safe – I wore a mask the entire time. But it seemed appropriate for CH to be the first act I saw after a time when it seemed like concerts might not ever happen again.

I can’t even express how overwhelming it was when the band started playing “When You Come”, a truly epic song, and Neil ran out on stage and yelled “WE MADE IT!!!” The theatre just exploded with joy and energy. At one point during the show, I looked around me, and every single person I could see was singing along with a big smile on their face. It was a glorious evening, and it was very special.