Tim Finn, take two
Last month, the Scientist and I attended our second Tim Finn show of the year. We saw him at the end of February at a music club about an hour away. That was a nice show and the support act, Meg Washington, was very good. We came away quite pleased at the time although it wouldn’t rank as a particularly magical one. Fast forward to November 21st and we had tickets to see again him at the Quarry Amphitheatre, a small and intimate outdoor theater near the coast.
We’d never been to this venue but the rave reviews all are well-warranted. We arrived well before the gates opened and stood in line for what seemed like ages. When we finally got in, it was no problem getting right up to the front of the venue for prime viewing. Despite both of us being well into our forties, we were some of the youngest attendees there. I guess the older folks prefer to have more comfortable seating rather than sit on the ground at the front. We managed reasonably well although the Scientist did describe a certain amount of discomfort after the first hour or so. We packed a small picnic dinner to avoid the exorbitant prices of the cafe only to find they had panini at a very reasonable price. Later on we ended up buying gelato ice cream and that was rather dear…but very tasty.
Anyway, the show opened with Andy Bull, a singer/songwriter whose voice still hasn’t completely broken well into his twenties. He addressed this trait early on with great humor and presented a very entertaining set filled with songs and the stories behind them. We like him enough to buy his cd during the intermission.
Tim Finn appeared on stage not long after 8pm and the night became truly magical. I think his performance really benefitted from having a full band this time around as opposed to being an almost solo performance in the February show (with only a guitarist for accompaniment). The songs seemed to really come alive this time. This tour was supporting an anthology album andthe show provided a good mix of all the stages of his career from his Split Enz years to his most recent solo album. Both the Scientist and I were treated to our favorite Tim Finn songs, I See Red and Dirty Creature, respectively. On the three previous shows where we’ve seen him, we’ve had to settle for one or the other. Dirty Creature has always sounded great but this had to be my favorite version yet. It was an outstanding performance.
At the end of the night, we both were quite satisfied and left with a souvenir tea towel, which seems to be in “thing” to take away from just about any Finn related show. It now hangs nicely from the bookcase next to my desk. On the way home, we stopped at the beach for a little while before coming home, which topped off such a wonderful evening.
