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Dear Concert Patron at the performance by Crowded House at Sandalford Estate, Swan Valley tonight,
As the sun set across Perth tonight, young and old alike entered Sandalford Estate in order to catch
one of the greatest enduring Australian bands of all time, which, considering what was to come, was far from surprising.
Openers Oh Mercy got things going with an impressive performance comprised of melodious indie pop with interludes featuring banter between the band's members, whose dry humour greatly amused the audience. Vocalist Alexander Gow easily shone as the band's star, with an outstanding voice reminiscent of Angus Stone and Bob Evans guiding the band. Despite the fact that the band was relatively unknown to punters, it was evident from the great cheer at the end of the set, that Oh Mercy had gained a few thousand fans in forty five minutes.
As Oh Mercy made a triumphant exit, Crowded House took to the stage to rapturous applause from the audience,
at which time, long time bassist Nick Seymour and relatively new drummer Matt Sherrod established the eerie
intro groove, before Neil Finn demonstrated, that despite looking a little aged, he can still sing damn well.
As Ian Shedden said in his review of their performance in Sydney earlier this week "A SINGALONG is never far
away at a Crowded House show."
The longer the band's career has gone on, albeit with its 11-year bridge in the middle, the lengthier audience participation has become. "Everywhere you go . . . always take the weather with you" goes one. "Hey now, hey now . . . don't dream it's over" comes another.
So many of Crowded House's songs lend themselves to that kind of communion. Singer Neil Finn has that rare
gift of marrying memorable lyrics to unforgettable melodies.
Tonight we did get "Weather With You" and "Don't Dream It's Over". We got " Fall At Your Feet", one of the
all-time great love-pop songs. "Distant Sun", "It's Only Natural", "Better Be Home Soon" . . . all these
crafted classics bringing an unremitting chorus from the crowd.
There's more to Crowded House than the hands-in-the-air karaoke they inspire, however. Some of the most
pleasing moments came when the harmonies and melodies gave way to Finn's darker, rock 'n' roll instincts.
Those hits were broken up with tracks from the band's most recent album, The Intriguer.
Finally, after around two hours, the night came to a close with Finn once again beginning a lengthy singalong. After this 120+ minute performance from one of Australia's Greatest Bands, it's clear that to describe Crowded House's performance as anything less than spectacularly mesmerising would be a travesty to the band's name, and from observing each patron leaving Sandalford Estate grinning and cheering like five year olds, it was clear that Crowded House had once again proved why they're regarded as one of the greatest Australian bands of all time.
I am sure for you and everybody else who attended, the performance tonight by Crowded House will long be remembered as one of the GREATEST shows to take place at Sandalford Estate, Swan Valley in the 10 years since the first concert was held.
And of course in that time there has been many great acts perform here including Simply Red, Robin Gibb, Bonnie Tyler, Spandau Ballet, Tears for Fears, Lionel Richie, Leonard Cohen, Alicia Keys, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, John Fogerty, Steely Dan, Ronan Keating, Tom Jones, Tina Arena, The Pretenders, Paul Kelly, Marcia Hines, Carole King, Missy Higgins, Jimmy Barnes, The 52's and many, many more.
Read here reviews of the Crowded House performance in Brisbane from earlier this week:
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