Tim Finn Brisbane review: Band years trump solo years in retrospective of brilliant career

Split Enz and Crowded House legend Tim Finn has charted his five-decade career at his Brisbane concert. But there were some glaring omissions in the setlist.

Tim Finn is charting his brilliant career on his Lives and Times tour.

Tim Finn’s time as a member of two of Australasia’s most beloved bands, Split Enz and Crowded House, occupies roughly a quarter of his storied 50-year career.

Yet it accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the setlist in his Lives and Times of Tim Finn show at The Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane on Thursday night.

Tay-Tay has her Eras tour, you could call this the Enz of an Era tour.

It‘s understandable: Those periods represent the peak of his commercial success, and therefore the most crowd-pleasing songs. He may also consider them his creative peak.

Still, it was a little disappointing he didn‘t delve more into his extensive solo catalogue, instead only performing four solo songs, three of which were from his first album.

It was reminiscent of the Finn Brothers‘ tour of nearly two decades ago, where there were precious few actual “Finn Brothers” songs.

Some of the overlooked gems we would have loved to hear on Thursday night included No Thunder No Fire No Rain, How’m I Gonna Sleep, Crescendo and Hit the Ground Running.

Finn traced his career chronologically, memories of the Enz flooding back as he plodded marionette-style on to the stage for opener My Mistake, with even a faux power failure.

At 71 Finn is still in fine form and voice, though more frenzied numbers such as Shark Attack and I See Red (in which the stage was fittingly bathed in red lights) tested his limits.

Like younger brother Neil, whose sons Liam and Elroy now comprise two-fifths of an even more Crowded House, Finn has watched his own children follow in his musical footsteps. As such, daughter Elliot Finn provided backing vocals.

And both Finn brothers have fond memories of Queensland. In concert a few years back Neil recalled childhood holidays on the Gold Coast, while at Thursday night‘s show Tim mused on a more recent experience at the Woodford Folk Festival.

“This next song, our son Harper sang the first verse at the Woodford festival not so long ago, he was 16 I think,” Finn recounted.

“We left him and his friend Jake at the festival for the night.

“They saw the new year in, and reports filtered back that they‘d ended up at least semi-naked – I’m not sure how far away – but there was a tent full of drumming, and it was a rite of passage.

“But we trusted him, we knew he‘d be fine, he’s turned out great.

“In honour of that memory – Elliot was there with us too – she‘s now going to sing the first verse in honour of her brother.”

That song was Stuff and Nonsense, and Elliot also dueted with her father on another Enz classic, Nobody Takes Me Seriously, and the piano intro of Crowded House hit It’s Only Natural.

The show was a reminder of the elder Finn‘s status as creative core of Split Enz even before his now-more-famous younger brother joined, and also how his tenure in Crowded House spawned that band’s best material.

For Dirty Creature Finn demonstrated how it began as a low-key piano jam, urging his band to not be shy and start chiming in as he “ad libbed”.

Reflecting the audience demographic it was a sit-down show, and Finn could feel the love in the room: “How you doin’ Brisbane? I feel a connection. It’s really great, nice room, I’m very happy to be here.”

Finn’s backing band were slickly competent, highlights including Tony Buchen’s piccolo solo for Six Months in a Leaky Boat and Carlo Barbaro‘s blazing sax, which ignited the audience as solo number Staring at the Embers brought down the final curtain.

Tim Finn plays the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on Sunday before dates in his homeland of New Zealand

Setlist: My Mistake, I See Red, Stuff and Nonsense, Poor Boy, Nobody Takes Me Seriously, Shark Attack, I Hope I Never, Ghost Girl, Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Dirty Creature, Fraction Too Much Friction, Made My Day, Persuasion, Chocolate Cake, It‘s Only Natural, Weather With You. Encore: Charley, Hard Act to Follow, Staring at the Embers.

Originally published as Tim Finn Brisbane review: Band years trump solo years in retrospective of brilliant career