martine
Dirty Creature
i just want to be there when it happens again
Posts: 7,005
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Post by martine on Aug 31, 2013 1:03:56 GMT -5
Well, sure as August turns into September..here we are with Neil announcing a Largo gig (this seems to be a regular thang for him the last couple of years) So I have no excuse to be surprised-- ....Well perhaps a little because there was only what...3 days notice before the actual gig. Which might be the amount of time some Los Angelenos might need just to get from point A to point B !! ;D Most people I know (who don't live in California) who are big fans of Neil's aren't going to be at Largo on Saturday night...I wonder if Neil does this on purpose. Does he not want the die-hards at his spur of the moment shows? Does he crave mild to medium fan(atics) at these things so he has to really crank that thing he does to win them (more) over. Does he just feel like having a bit of a play and hey kids! let's put on a show! I think this might be what his thinking is. And there's probably not any agita around playing at Largo. it can be set up for him very quickly. He's in LA every year it seems, so why the heck not--plus he owes all those So-Cal types a show to make up for the lost Pajama Club strip mall gigs he cancelled two summers ago I am off to the beach tomorrow (at the bottom of the huge lake what is in my province) to watch Buddy Holly perform under the stars. And so I am quite at peace about missing Neil playing at Largo tomorrow. I've seen him there already and those nights were fabulous, something to hang your hat on for a lifetime Rave on, baby ;D
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Post by Bernard on Sept 1, 2013 5:59:08 GMT -5
Well, Martine, he thanked us for being available for the "hastily assembled" concert after his longest vacation ever at an undisclosed location. And he mentioned flying back to New Zealand today. No You Tube videos or photos of Neil Finn's two hour performance at Largo Saturday night will ever be posted. Instead, his knowledgeable and adoring audience got to hang out with him in a space smaller than most living rooms in nearby Beverly Hills, waiting for every piano chord to fade before erupting in applause. With Anni serving as key grip on the least obtrusive flashlight we brought, I wrote down the setlist while they clapped for us. I'm labeling the new songs in italics with words from the refrains: - Only Talking Sense
- Silent House
- Not the Girl You Think You Are
- Message to My Girl
- I Feel Possessed
- only one way down
- Faster Than Light
- Pour Le Monde
- Wherever You Are (Jon Brion joins)
- Private Universe
- Sinner
- Four Seasons in One Day
- starlight companion (Sharon Finn joins)
- don't die wondering
- when you become a recluse
- impressions
- dizzy heights
[/i] (Sharon exits) [/li][li]Fall at Your Feet [/li][li]I Got You [/li][li]All You Need Is Love (The Beatles) [/li][li]Don't Dream It's Over [/li][/ul]
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Post by mummakook on Sept 1, 2013 18:32:57 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing that, Bernard. Sounds like a good collection of songs old and new. Curious how most of the latter came in a batch towards the end.
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martine
Dirty Creature
i just want to be there when it happens again
Posts: 7,005
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Post by martine on Sept 1, 2013 20:11:36 GMT -5
Can you give us a bit more detail Bernard? How do the new songs sound...did Neil say anything about the release of the album he's been working on or a possibility of a tour? How long was the show, was there any stampede to the Little Room?
;D
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Post by Half-Full on Sept 2, 2013 0:26:58 GMT -5
Yes! The more details the better!! And, yes, it's been so long since I posted here, I couldn't remember my username or password, but, alas, here I am!
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Post by Bernard on Sept 2, 2013 2:52:09 GMT -5
First, allow me to say how wonderful it is to see Mummakook! Anni and Brian in the Los Angeles area -- who sat next to you and Helen at Tim's El Rey show in 2008 -- always enjoyed your posts on Next Exit.
In his introduction, the club owner mentioned that Neil Finn has an album forthcoming, Martine, and Neil said the new songs will sound different when they're released, as if they already have been recorded. But really no mention of any future concert plans.
Neil and Jon switched between keyboards and guitars at Neil's direction. At one point Neil said that he and Jon had done 20 to 30 such gigs at Largo over the years -- had they ever rehearsed? No, Jon said. A musical genius, he strummed chords in the right key while Neil led the new songs on the house's upright piano. Sharon, who sat on a folding chair near the drum kit for five songs, seemed to know her bass lines, so I assume she's on the new album.
Ah, the new material. I've read comparisons on the Internets to the piano ballads on "Try Whistling This" and "Time on Earth." Those were the arrangements we got. Certainly, we heard Neil's gift for surprising and delightful melody and his fine voice, once in falsetto. But I was impressed by the mature, outward looking lyrics. The song I identified as starlight companion -- apparently "Strangest Friends" on the setlist from the stage -- sounds to me like Neil's update on Ziggy Stardust, you know, the aliens have landed. (I like my title better.) In "Recluse," he name checks Howard Hughes, J.D. Salinger, Gretta Garbo and others at the end. This ain't the guy who sang in 2007, "All I want is something I can write about." But he clearly knows what it means and how it feels to want to be alone.
I can't tell you whether there was a stampede. As soon as Neil left the stage, finally able to talk at length after two full hours, I turned to Anni to gush over what we just heard. After the show, we caught up with the beautiful Jane from Bakersfield and her husband John in the courtyard. When we finally left after midnight, the door to the Little Room was wide open and it seemed full, but we didn't step in. No doubt Steve W. and Ginny were at their customary table in front of the tiny platform in the corner.
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Post by SueBee on Sept 3, 2013 10:49:55 GMT -5
I suppose that this bodes somewhat well for future plans from the younger of the Finn brothers as far as recording, releasing and touring in areas outside of New Zealand, Australia and Los Angeles. Of course, it isn't as if any previous fully finished albums have been canned and rerecorded or any previous planned tours have been canned, never to be replanned, or anything (looking at the elder bro with narrowed lids...), or the younger brother works at a pace that makes glacial movement seem positively light speed.
Frankly, I will believe that there is a new album only when I hold it in my hot little hands, and I will believe that there will be a tour only when I see miss Martine standing in front of me, facing Neil.
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jenn
Dirty Creature
Posts: 6,473
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Post by jenn on Sept 7, 2013 9:01:55 GMT -5
Hopefully we will get some Neil Finn love next year, and with that, Next Exiters love. I need some boob-squishing hugs!
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Post by shakespeare on Sept 8, 2013 23:46:10 GMT -5
Fucking . . . yessssssssssss!
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jenn
Dirty Creature
Posts: 6,473
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Post by jenn on Sept 10, 2013 8:42:51 GMT -5
Is that yessssssss for Neil at Largo or for boob-squishing hugs? Or do I have to ask? The hugs are reserved for the goddesses of Next Exit, but if you want to get your man-boobs in there....there's always Den.
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martine
Dirty Creature
i just want to be there when it happens again
Posts: 7,005
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Post by martine on Sept 16, 2013 22:32:38 GMT -5
Well, album out in "February" (2014? 2015?) And that's prolly in NZ/AUS. God knows it probably won't be available in North America til later. On Twitter, he said NYC March/April (2014?) (LOL) I guess we'll see once the tour schedule is published how soon I'll actually be standing NEXT TO Sue with Neil in front of us. Hopefully we won't be staring into bloody strobe lights all night again (my retinas became detached at the Double Door in 2011) I also prefer late summer/fall tours to early spring tours because that means it's over when the year is still young...at least when he tours in NA in the summer, there's that few months of anticipation and voyeurism derived from other people's reviews. But oh well...we'll take what we get
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