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Bumbershoot’s Premature Ejaculation: Crowded House Live

Posted by Nada Overlord August 30th, 2007 No Comments »

When Crowded House played their landmark reunion show at Coachella earlier this year to a crowd of rabid and impatient Rage Against The Machine fans, the plastic bottle that bounced off of frontman Neil Finn’s head shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. (It certainly wasn’t to Finn, who had predicted as much during their warmup gig in Phoenix earlier that week.)

The surprise was that Crowded House, a cerebral pop band from New Zealand whose biggest U.S. hit charted 21 years ago, would be expected to elicit anything but derision from a young, aggressive American crowd.

When Crowded House played their landmark reunion show at Coachella earlier this year to a crowd of rabid and impatient Rage Against The Machine fans, the plastic bottle that bounced off of frontman Neil Finn’s head shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. (It certainly wasn’t to Finn, who had predicted as much during their warmup gig in Phoenix earlier that week.)

The surprise was that Crowded House, a cerebral pop band from New Zealand whose biggest U.S. hit charted 21 years ago, would be expected to elicit anything but derision from a young, aggressive American crowd.

Whoever placed the band first on the bill on Bumbershoot’s opening day was a lot more realistic about their popularity in the States – even in Seattle, a city close to Finn’s heart. It’s highly unlikely that an impatient Shins fan is going to hurl anything at Crowded House heavier than a yawn, but the fact remains that people here know the band best for their 1986 song "Don’t Dream It’s Over", and that’s a damned shame.

Crowded House broke up without ever releasing a crappy album, enjoying immense popularity in virtually every country outside of the US, and Finn’s songwriting is revered by musicians from David Byrne to Radiohead to the Dixie Chicks (lead singer Natalie Maines even gave her second son the middle name "Finn" in his honor.)

Expect the hits on Saturday afternoon, but be ready for lesser known fan favorites from throughout Crowded House’s catalog and, inevitably, a few highlights from their latest album, Time On Earth (including the songs co-written by Maines and Smiths/Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr.)

For some of us, the highlight of the entire festival will occur when Crowded House takes the stage. It’s well worth your time to start this year’s Bumbershoot by discovering why.

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Crowded House play Memorial Stadium on Saturday, September 1st at 12:45 p.m.

Matt Brown’s Saturday Schedule

Unlike the other Nada contributors covering this year’s Bumbershoot festival, Matt Brown was not allowed to select his own lineup. Here are the bands we have assigned him to cover.

12:15 – 1:00: Step Cousins
1:30 – 2:00: Loop! Station
2:00 – 3:00: Picture & Sound: Music Videos
3:15 – 4:15: Honeydripper All Stars
3:45 – 4:45: I Love Led Zeppelin
5:15 – 6:15: Alela Diane
6:15 – 7:15: Head Automatica
7:00 – 8:15: Bert Jansch
8:00 – 9:15: Rude Mechanicals
9:00 – 10:00: Dystopia
10:00 – 11:00: Panic! At The Disco