Crowded House celebrated new LP ‘Gravity Stairs’ at Bowery Ballroom (review, setlist, video)
Crowded House released their fantastic eighth album, Gravity Stairs, on Friday and celebrated in NYC with a very intimate show at Bowery Ballroom. The band, which these days includes frontman and songwriter Neil Finn, founding bassist Nick Seymour, Neil’s sons Liam and Elroy, and Mitchell Froom (who has produced the band’s first three albums), were augmented by a second drummer/keyboardist and sounded genuinely fantastic. At 66, Finn’s voice remains agile and can still hit those high high notes on “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” which came late in the main set.
They played eight of Gravity Stairs‘ 11 songs and sounded like the kinks had been worked out already, despite Neil saying that this show was basically a trial run for their upcoming tour. Some of those songs were my favorite moments from the night, especially single “Teenage Summer” (an instant Crowded House classic), “Oh Hi,” and the album’s dreamy opener, “Magic Piano,” which really showed off the talents of Liam Finn and Nick Seymour’s melodic, dexterous bass-playing. Nick also brought a lot of humor to the night, as did Liam, occasionally at the good-hearted expense of father.
The two-hour show made time for lots of classics, too, including “Fall At Your Feet,” “Something So Strong,” “Weather With You” (with a little of Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” in there, a nod to the last time they played Bowery), “World Where You Live,” “Pineapple Head” (which worked in a little of The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon”), “Four Seasons in One Day,” and “Sweet Dreams” by Neil’s pre-Crowded House band, Split Enz. We also got an impromptu cover of Dee-Lite’s “Groove is in the Heart,” which was pretty fun till it fell apart. What a treat to see them at Bowery Ballroom. Setlist and a few videos from the show are below.
Before Crowded House hit NYC, they were in L.A. where one of their promo stops was at Jimmy Kimmel Live where they played “Teenage Summer” and you can watch that below too.
Crowded House’s North American tour starts August 29 in St. Augustine, FL and hits NYC at Rooftop at Pier 17 on September 4.
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SETLIST: Crowded House @ Bowery Ballroom 5/31/2024
World Where You Live
Teenage Summer
I Love You Dawn
I Can’t Keep Up With You
To the Island
Magic Piano
Groove is in the Heart
When You Come
Fall at Your Feet
Oh Hi
Sweet Dreams
Private Universe
All That I Can Ever Own
The Howl
Thirsty
Distant Sun
Don’t Dream It’s Over
Weather With You
Encore:
Something So Strong
Four Seasons in One Day
Encore 2:
Pineapple Head
Some Greater Plan (For Claire)
Jojo Siwa
Better Be Home Soon
