Crowded Weekend

It's another weekend set to start with a concert by foreigners - this time it's Crowded House. With two more Friday night concerts to attend in the upcoming months, I have to say that it is a good transition into relaxing and fixing the ills of the week. The holiday weekend coming up is also something to look forward to, but I worry that eventless Fridays and protracted weekends may leave the weeks long and brutal, without a tangible hope to aim for. But for now, the weekend begins well...

UPDATE: Another terrific show from Crowded House, and unlike last time, a far more intimate venue. I was last at The Orpheum for the Last Remaining Seats series of films some time ago, but it was nice to see the refurbished building used for a concert. It was reminiscent of the show they did at The Arlington in Santa Barbara over a decade ago - something larger than a club but smaller than an amphitheater.

With a mix of old and more recent songs, the band even trotted out a couple of new tunes I imagine are being tested for inclusion on another studio effort. Having already done their initial touring for 2007's Time On Earth, the show was a far more relaxed experience on stage. The band, having done their lap after a long hiatus, were now having pure fun. The audience seemed to as well, as a flurry of notes and papers were tossed onto the stage throughout the show, which the band would collect and even read to the crowd.

By far the strangest moment in the banter and interaction was a woman near the front row trying to throw her paper airplane message onstage...which failed at first. As usual, YouTube documents of the night were had, and as proof:

It's dark, but she gets to dance on a PA, and then on stage. Scarlett, who braved the "old people music" was as surprised as I at the whole thing, but it was laughable and very cool to see the evening be such a laid-back and interactive show between the band and it's fans. They also performed a double encore, which stretched their set to over two hours, certainly giving we fans our money's worth. I hope that their next tour brings them back to a small setting, which singer Neil Finn hinted at before they left, or at the very least after doing their promotional jaunt, since great bands really take over cozy theater stages like The Orpheum.

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