{"id":327032,"date":"2025-12-04T11:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T11:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/327032\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T11:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T11:21:16","slug":"review-crowded-house-deliver-powerhouse-finish-at-fremantle-prison-after-goofy-start-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/327032\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Crowded House deliver powerhouse finish at Fremantle Prison after goofy start"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s 1986, Crowded House have just released their first album and Fremantle Prison is still five years from being decommissioned as a correctional facility.<\/p>\n

That statement is not intended to make long-time local fans of Neil Finn\u2019s family-run band feel old, but rather to reflect on the vast change and growth that both our State, and the Australian-New Zealand rockers, have experienced in the past four decades.<\/p>\n

And by extension, the fans themselves.<\/p>\n

Looking around at the close-to-crowded prison yard on Wednesday night, the majority of ticket holders were with the rockers from day one.<\/p>\n

The performance launched a busy week in WA for the group, who are set to return to the venue on Friday night before playing at Sandalford Winery on Saturday for the final leg of the Red Hot Summer Festival, which began in October.<\/p>\n

\"CrowdedCamera IconCrowded House performs at Fremantle Prison, Fremantle, on Wednesday. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

If they weren\u2019t already doing enough, fans on Wednesday night were not just treated to a show. They were treated to two.<\/p>\n

Walking out at 7pm on the dot with no stage-warmer, the band joked they themselves were the supporting act for the main event after having met and formed behind the prison bars that loomed over them.<\/p>\n

Finn playfully dubbed his regtag ensemble \u201cHer Majesty\u2019s Pleasure\u201d, as opposed to \u201cHis Majesty\u2019s Pleasure\u201d, as the latter may insinuate support for Prince Andrew\u2019s tarnished history, or rather pry at the King\u2019s love life.<\/p>\n

\"NeilCamera IconNeil Finn of Crowded House. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

A tame start to the evening featured 1991 hit Four Seasons in One Day, Weather With You, as well as new songs In My Own Shell and It Was a Small Detail, as Finn hinted another studio album was set to drop early next year.<\/p>\n

They brought out sisters Vika & Linda Bull as back-up vocals, switched guitars several times, repeatedly asked each other which key they were supposed to be in and goofed around with fans.<\/p>\n

At one point Finn challenged himself, his bandmates and the entire audience to beat his record of stool swivels\u2014 yes, really \u2014 after he had all parties count each of his 13 full rotations in schoolboy fashion.<\/p>\n

\"LiamCamera IconLiam Finn. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

It seemed a novelty for the natural frontman to be seated for so long, telling the crowd he doesn\u2019t typically do it.<\/p>\n

The first 45 minutes was like a window into one of the band\u2019s jam sessions or rehearsals.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t polished, it wasn\u2019t clean. It probably wasn\u2019t for everyone.<\/p>\n

Then members left the stage for 25 minutes. And everything changed.<\/p>\n

Crowded House transformed into a powerhouse of jailhouse rock stars.<\/p>\n

\"NickCamera IconNick Seymour before he slipped into a bright orange suit. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

They returned with a renewed purpose, wardrobe changes for Finn\u2019s son Liam and founding member Nick Seymour \u2014 both on guitar and backing vocals \u2014 and no swivel chair for the lead singer.<\/p>\n

It was as if someone had just informed the ARIA Hall of Famers they WERE the main event.<\/p>\n

They began rolling out further hits Fall at Your Feet, Something So Strong and Distant Sun, drawing some call and response from the audience.<\/p>\n

Band members then pretended to light up a joint in tribute of their mate \u201cLloydy\u201d who supposedly served time in the prison 50 years ago after being charged with doing exactly that.<\/p>\n

Whatever it was they\u2019d passed around, it made the group\u2019s ensuing rendition of 1993\u2019s Private Universe feel like a drug-induced psychosis of heavy reverb \u2014 at least for those seated within 20m of the stage.<\/p>\n

Louder electric guitar, bass and drums followed, until the band finally slowed to perform what everyone had been waiting for \u2014 Don\u2019t Dream It\u2019s Over.<\/p>\n

\"CrowdedCamera IconCrowded House performs at Fremantle Prison, Fremantle, on Wednesday. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Cue a resounding sigh of relief and joy from the crowd who weren\u2019t quite sure what to make of the previous stanza.<\/p>\n

The night ended with Finn on piano and what appeared to be an impromptu cover of Deee-Lite\u2019s 1990 hit Groove Is in the Heart, as the Bull sisters were summoned back to the stage and didn\u2019t quite know when to chime in but made still made it work.<\/p>\n

Either way, it had the crowd shuffling in their seats, and a standing pocket in the corner doing even more.<\/p>\n

Crowded House finished with Better Be Home Soon, with some fans quietly content that the 9.45pm weeknight finish did not include an encore.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/p>\n

Ultimately, loading their early set with one or two more favourites may have had some more engaged, in what was largely an entertaining showcase of the band\u2019s extensive back catalogue.<\/p>\n

Add to that the carelessly charismatic performative-style of Finn, and WA-specific repartee with the audience, and fans would have felt they witnessed a unique show that will never be repeated.<\/p>\n

Four stars out of five.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s 1986, Crowded House have just released their first album and Fremantle Prison is still five years from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-327032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}