By Clive Young.
Crowded House closed out a sold-out, three-night stint at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom on July 22 with a great show, capped off by the appearance of David Byrne, who sat in for raucous run-throughs of Talking Heads classics “Once In A Lifetime” and “Road To Nowhere.”
The band’s latest album, Intriguer, boasts a great selection of tuneful songs, which the band has been performing in fine form nightly. Leader Neil Finn belts into an Earthworks 40 kHz SR40HC High Definition microphone with custom-designed windscreen, and in fact, the entire stage is miked by a phalanx of 29 Earthworks mics.
Along for the ride on the brief U.S. run is a selection of gear from Firehouse Productions, including a pair of Avid Venue consoles. A Profile sits at FOH, manned by Angus Davidson, who has been involved one way or another with Crowded House/Split Enz entities since 1976. These days, he is also happens to be Avid’s Live Sound Sales Manager for Australia and New Zealand—the band’s home turf.
Meanwhile, monitor engineer Paul Jefferies rides herd over a Venue D-Show—when not running up on stage to play keyboards for a few songs with the band!
With co-founding member Nick Seymour (bass), Finn reassembled the band in 2007, bringing in later member Mark Hart (who joined in 1993), and new drummer Matt Sherrod, who took the place of late drummer Paul Hester. With a return U.S. tour in the works for the fall and a South Pacific run this winter, the House band is just warming up for a long stretch of roadwork. Look for a full report on the tour in an upcoming issue of Pro Sound News.
