Crowded House & Pete Yorn

This weekend we took in a show by Crowded House and Pete Yorn. Turned out to be Ian's first (paid for) concert. Actually, he saw G. Love a few years ago at free concert down on Penn's Landing, but this was his first "paid to go see" concert.


So, Crowded House has been around since the early 80's. Doesn't seem that long, but I guess it has. They had some hits as early as 1983! Quite some time ago. Well, after taking a few years off they are back with a new album, and a tour to support it. For a bunch of guys who took 10 years off they seem pretty tight. The show itself was solid - musically and visually. The played the hits - Something So Strong, World Where You Live, Don't Dream it's Over - played a bunch of new songs, and a couple covers. What got me was the crowd. I remember working at the Mann Music Center when I was in college. One of the bands to perform while working there was The Moody Blues. At that time I remember thinking "these guys are pretty good, should be a pretty good show." What turned out to happen is the band was solid. Not great, but not bad. It was the crowd that flipped me out. The crowd - and this is the mid-80's - was mostly folks in their 50's and 60's. I would say a good 75% of the crowd was just a few years away from being able to collect social security. What got me about Crowded House is that the crowd was full of folks in their late 40's and early to mid 50's. At least 20% were possibly in their 60's. Christine made the comment that she was the youngest person there, with the exception of Ian. Usually when we go see a show I am pretty conscious of the fact that I am older than most there, but on this night I was clearly on the younger side of things. Just the same I enjoyed them. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being a great show and 1 being a totally sucked show, they get a solid 5.

Pete Yorn on the other hand put on a solid show. I would clearly give him a solid 7. This guy is a really good song writer, and has a pretty tight band to support him. While he only played about 10 songs, each one was a real standout. Ian, really only being familiar with him - not so much with Crowded House - had a blast while he was on. Christine stated that there was no comparison - Pete Yorn was way better. I wonder if it was because he is a solid 20 years younger than the guys in Crowded House? I do love the version of Splendid Isolation (the Warren Zevon son) he does. Probably my favorite song of the night - followed by The Man.

As for Crowded House - strangely enough they are doing this Dixie Chicks song. Not sure of the title, but they clearly stated it was a Dixie Chicks song. I thought it was pretty good. The new stuff sounds good, but not too exciting. They were a clean sounding band back in the 80's - easy to digest - and the same holds true today.

Anyway - it was a rather uneventful show for Christine and me, but Ian had a blast. Saying it was the best show he has ever seen (granted he doesn't have much to compare it to - he doesn't even remember the G. Love show). Up next is the WXPN show this Friday with Rufus Wainwright and Neko Case. That should be fun. Two concerts in one week. Ian will at least have something to mention back at school.