Neil Finn’s Crowded House has formulated some classic pop songs over the years with the dynamically yearning “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” the band’s crowning achievement 37 years ago.
The latest version of the Australian/New Zealand band, which comes to Cadence Bank at Chastain Park on Friday, incorporates elements of both Finn’s past and his family. Finn will be joined by his original bass player Nick Seymour, his former producer Mitchell Froom on keyboards and his sons Elroy and Liam. (Resale tickets are starting at $22 on Livenation.com and there are a lot of seats still available.)
“It feels like a lovely convergence of threads,” said Finn in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re a soulful unit connected to the history of the band.”
Finn last performed in Atlanta at State Farm Arena in 2019 as part of Fleetwood Mac as a replacement for Lindsey Buckingham, who had been booted from the group.
Over the years, Mick Fleetwood became friends with Finn while recording at Finn’s studio in Auckland, New Zealand. “Mick is the type of guy who keeps things brewing in the back of his brain,” Finn said. “He’s always carrying a flag for the band. When Lindsey left, this little light went on. He rang me out of the blue. It was an unexpected call.”
Finn visited the band in person “to see how it felt,” he said. “It felt great. Singing with Christine [McVie] and Stevie [Nicks] felt natural. The blend was really good. Everybody was really welcoming. They are an interesting and diverse group. They wanted me to be a major contributor to the live show.”
Credit: Matthew T. Ellery
Credit: Matthew T. Ellery
In fact, the band included “Don’t Dream It’s Over” in its set list during that tour, which would end up being the last one for McVie, who died in 2022.
Finn, who briefly owned a home in Los Angeles from 2020 to 2022 but now resides in New Zealand, said touring with Fleetwood Mac was “an amazing experience to dip into someone else’s songs and watching how another classic band operates.”
It also gave him a “fresh enthusiasm for my own band. Although we didn’t scale the heights of Fleetwood Mac, we have a really good history.”
Finn said the concert at Chastain will last about two hours and mix deep cuts with the band’s biggest songs like “Something So Strong,” “Better Be Home Soon” and “Weather With You.” They will also include selections from their recent album “Gravity Stairs,” including singles “Teenager Summer” and “Oh Hi.” And as the band plays more dates together in its current incarnation, he feels they’ve gotten looser.
“There is part of us who want to become a jam band at this point,” Finn said. “We have that in our DNA.”
And he believes American audiences are more open to that dynamic than those from other continents.
“We feel a bit freer in America,” Finn said. “They seem to get excited when you go off script.”
Finn also did a short cameo voice-over appearance on the wildly popular Australian kids show “Bluey” as a doctor who declares the father figure Bandit in good health in the third season in an episode dubbed “Exercise.”
Finn’s short scene survived the cut.
“For some reason, I haven’t been inclined to watch it,” Finn said. “I don’t know why. Maybe I’d be embarrassed if I did it wrong. I might have let the kids down!”
IF YOU GO
Crowded House
8 p.m. Friday, $22 and up. Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain, 469 Stella Drive NW, Atlanta. livenation.com
FYI: No tables, meaning no outside food or drink
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