| Tim Finn, Bic Runga, Dave Dobbyn, Together In Concert, Christchurch Town Hall,
Saturday September 9. Reviewed by Chris Mooar.
With the ramshackle stage set that looked like it could have made its way
into the next edition of Blokes and their Sheds, the feel for the next two
hours of top-class entertainment was set.
From the moment Finn, Runga, and Dobbyn bounded on stage to rapturous applause, the
capacity crowd were treated to an evening few will forget.
The opening salvo of Six Months In A Leaky Boat, Whaling, That Was My Mistake
and Drive was wonderful, with the trio in exuberant form.
The informal atmosphere, with stage crew and friends wandering about, chatting
and lounging on the sofas, simply added to the carefree sing-a-long feel of the evening.
The hits just kept on coming; Poor Boy, Bursting Through, Just Add Water, and a "
folky" version of Slice Of Heaven were just a few of the songs that highlighted
part one. If the first half was good, the second was on fire. The trio swapped
instruments (Bic Runga proving she
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can not only sing beautifully, but also give the drums a good seeing to), told
stories (Dobbyn and Finn proving they can not only sing but can also do a fair Tony Hancock
and Sid James comedy act), and upon noticing his guitar was not in tune, Finn instructed
his guitar tech to "just smash it", which was gleefully adhered to to the
in-joke opening notes of Led Zep's Whole Lotta Love. Hilarious.
Bic's reading of Sway was stunning which was followed by Loyal. Finn dusted off his
maniacal Split Enz persona, for a land-speed record run through I See Red. It had
stage-hand Jason Young frantically following Tim, just to make sure the singer did not
fall over his own mic chord.
The encore included the new Dobbyn anthem My Kind Of People, Neil Young's Heart Of
Gold, and a huge version of Be Mine Tonight. The night ended with Weather With You.
As highlights, Finns Persuasion, Dobbyn's breathtaking Language, and Runga's solitary
Suddenly Strange will be remembered most.
Of the three, it was the stunning Bic Runga whose star shone brightest.
The only gripe? Two hours didn't seem nearly enough. A perfect night.
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