Live Review and Photo Gallery: Crowded House at Ravinia Festival • Highland Park

Brassneck | September 18, 2024

Crowded House at Ravinia Festival

Highland Park, IL

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Review by Jeff Elbel. Photos courtesy of Ravinia Festival/Patrick Gipson.

Melodic pop fans who managed a weeknight getaway were treated to a sublime performance by Crowded House on a gorgeous summer night outdoors at Ravinia. Traveling during winter in the southern hemisphere, the setting on Wednesday wasn’t lost on New Zealand native Neil Finn. “What a beautiful evening at the end of summer,” said the singer as the band completed the breezy “World Where You Live.”

The band exhibited a family-band vibe and rapport throughout the evening and did so honestly enough. Crowded House is now augmented by Finn’s sons, including guitarist and songwriter Liam Finn. Drummer, guitarist, and songwriter Elroy Finn has taken the role originally held by the late Paul Hester. Founding bassist Nick Seymour and the elder Finn traded brotherly jokes and gentle barbs throughout the evening. On keyboards was Mitchell Froom, whose association with the band goes back to its 1986 self-titled debut album.

The group introduced several songs from this year’s highly praised Gravity Stairs album. During the yearning “Teenage Summer,” Neil Finn twirled across the stage playing his 12-string acoustic guitar while Liam Finn played a snaky backward guitar solo atop Seymour’s buoyant, McCartney-esque bass line.

The ballad of devotion, “Fall at Your Feet,” was an emotional highlight early in the set that made it clear the band had the crowd on its side. As the arrangement broke down to Finn’s lone guitar, a thousands-strong choir of voices rose from the audience. “You’re the show now, Chicago,” said Finn as the band transitioned to “To the Island” from the lockdown album Dreamers are Waiting.

Finn’s engaging anecdotes included the memory of a prior visit to Ravinia alongside New Jersey rockers The Smithereens. Seymour added, “I remember that you lay on the floor at the end of the show instead of going offstage. After a while, you stood up, and we continued.” “Brief nap, big energy for the encore,” explained Finn.

Surprise selectons included roadworthy new selections by the younger Finns. Froom added a glistening electric piano and a Laurel Canyon-styled synthesizer solo atop trippy guitars during Liam Finn’s “I.” “It’s all about the ego. A song to unite all narcissists” quipped Neil Finn. Soon afterward, Elroy Finn came to the front of the stage for a duet of his song “The Other.”

Afterward, Neil Finn celebrated the evening again. “This house is a glorious place to be on whatever night of the week it is,” he said. Upon confirming the day to be Wednesday, he added to the audience, “You can all have the day off tomorrow. I’ll write you a note.”

While Elroy Finn played an island tom-tom rhythm for the intoxicating “Either Side of the World,” Neil Finn added a comical quote from “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate. The newer “Night Song” was a starlit waltz with rich vocal harmony. The song was preceded by a story about a moment of communion at 3 AM with a stranger outside Finn’s window on the street. Afterward, the band earned an ovation for the familiar seven-note riff and Finn’s sky-faring vocal during a subdued but intense version of his 1984 Split Enz’ composition “Message to My Girl.”

With the keening chorus of “When You Come,” Finn provided to be in a strong and ageless voice. Old partners Finn and Seymour leaned into each other, shoulder to shoulder, as the song unspooled its outsized emotions. “Private Universe” became a showcase for the combination of Elroy Finn’s drumming and Paul Taylor’s percussion. All three Finns gathered at the stage front for “All That I Can Ever Own,” a warm-hearted song about embracing the present and allowing the future to unfold.

“I know you can sing; I heard you before,” said Neil Finn as the band began the alternately contemplative and soaring “Four Seasons In One Day.” Finn basked in the audience’s “20-part harmony” while Seymour improvised a comical interpretive dance. “That felt quite transcendent,” Finn said afterward, praising the Ravinia crowd.

Finn gave high marks to the locals again following “Sister Madly.” “I’ve said it all along, people in Chicago got good rhythm,” he said. “In New Zealand, no history of rhythm.” Following more good-natured but mildly profane banter leading to a suggestion to get on with the show, Finn explained the phrase “shut the fuck up” as a common term of endearment at home. “It’s something you might say at the beginning of a new day. ‘Good morning, Liam. Shut the fuck up.’”

“I love you, Dad,” added Liam after a beat. “I love you too,” responded the elder Finn.

The main set wrapped-up with a string of major crowd-pleasers. “Distant Sun” led to the magical “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” followed by the anthemic acoustic pop of “Something So Strong.” Liam Finn covered the harmony vocal originally recorded by his uncle Tim Finn during singalong set closer “Weather With You.” The song was enhanced with the psychedelic drama of “Age of Aquarius.” “It’s amazing how I know all the words to this song,” Neil Finn had said as he apparently rattled the words off the top of his head.

Mid-song, Finn expressed a note of concern for his veteran partner Seymour. “Don’t start dancing too much, Mr. Baggypants, ‘cause you put your knee out last night.” Seymour dutifully raised his plaid trouser leg to reveal that he was wearing a knee brace, and then he kept dancing.

Crowded House encored with the summery jangle of “Oh Hi.” The single connects to Finn’s involvement with So They Can, an organization that builds schools in Kenya and Tanzania. “Nails in My Feet” and “Into Temptation” brought the show to a dramatic conclusion. There were scattered murmurs by people anticipating a closing performance of the intimate “Better Be Home Soon,” but the crowd nonetheless departed Ravinia in uniformly high spirits.