House Rules

As a 37-year-old mother of two, I was sort of shocked to realize I was among the younger attendees at last night's Crowded House show at Stubb's.

I figured the audience would be thick with almost middle-aged folks like me, who'd fallen in love with Neil Finn's deeply affecting songwriting back in high school, and finagled a night away from the kids to dive into the well of nostalgia. In reality, apart from the random third-grader and bored-looking teenager, I was a whippersnapper in a crowd of grannies and druncles who were probably doing their post-docs when Crowded House came out in 1986.

I was flying solo because at the last minute my husband declared that Crowded House's most recent release, Intriguer, was dull and he didn't want to go out and sweat in the dog-day heat AND, insult to injury, have to pay a babysitter on top of it all. While I disagree on the whole with his assessment of this esteemed veteran outfit's sixth full-length record, when juxtaposed like a Modernist poem against the Crowdies' older material, the new stuff doesn't resonate quite as profoundly.

Neil Finn and company cleverly started the show with a trio of opening tracks: “I Feel Possessed” (from 1988's Temple of Low Men), “The World Where You Live” (1986's Crowded House), and this year's “Saturday Sun.” From there, the set rambled through proven tracks like “Fall At Your Feet” to the charming but untested “Either Side of the World” and “Falling Dove,” which showcased rhythm guitarist Mark Hart's skill with a violin bow.

But it was the dark swells and surges of “This Silent House” and sexy slink of “Whispers and Moans” that truly hit the mark. The real showstopper, though, was “When You Come,” from Temple of Low Men, as it reminded us that Neil Finn is, second only to being a gifted songwriter, a wildly skilled guitarist. His son Liam, who guested on this and a few other songs, is no slouch himself.

Make no mistake: Intriguer is a lovely, at times moving record, and I am sure that 20 years from now, when Neil Finn is too old to grow a creepy mustache and his soon-to-be-born grandchild is headed to college, these new songs will be as profoundly affecting as Crowded House's earlier material. But for August 2010, the rosy hue of nostalgia reigned over progress.