Neil Finn in full song last night. Photo / Richard Robinson
It's arguable whether the Crowded House reunion hitting Auckland for the first date of its New Zealand tour constituted a homecoming.
But the occasion didn't lack for that sort of high-spirited celebratory feeling - much of it primed by fellow reunionists Supergroove in their riotous opening slot.
And
it had a definite local bent - there was Don McGlashan as guest backing vocalist and euphonium player on two songs, there was Davy Lane of Taranaki taking over regular employee Liam Finn's acoustic guitar duties out the back, and there was the arrival of a local luminary by the name of Tim Finn in the encores of the Woodface era hits.
Say what you like about the acoustics of Vector, it does lend itself to a good singalong, especially when the place is full and the songs are as ingrained as Four Seasons in One Day or Don't Dream It's Over.
But if those were the predictable heartwarming parts of the show, Crowded House managed to show that this was more than a profitable wander down memory lane.
Songs from this year's reformation album Time On Earth - including the churning Don't Stop Now and Silent House with a dusty guitar scorch from Neil Finn - created much of the night's energy.
And that voltage seemed to leak into the older material, resulting in a breakneck Locked Out, the rock chug underneath the formerly delicate bones of Fall At Your Feet, and an explosive When You Come.
So musically, it sparked bright and bold, almost like they had never been away. Certainly, it felt different, more straightforward than the anything-might-happen Crowdies gigs when the late Paul Hester was so much a part of the band's live X-factor. But that was then. Now, Crowded House are still a great live band and their songs endure.
That is also true of the reconstituted Supergroove, reminding that they aren't just a mid-90s teen pop phenomenon who kicked off a new era of confidence in New Zealand music but a talented bunch whose later songs still stand up more than a decade later.
And up first Pluto, the only band on the bill that hadn't reformed for the occasion, put in a solid sales pitch for new album Sunken Water in their short set, especially on the standout ballad Forgiveness.
