I discovered the music of Tim and Neill Finn when I was a young lad and they were in a little group called Split Enz. (That would be a century ago, eh Saucer? Why you…) I have loved their music ever since. Unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to see them live in concert back then. Fortunately the Finn’s still tour and I have the coin and the time to see them when they come around to Perth. This time around it was Tim who came to town and performed three sold out shows at the Quarry Amphitheatre.

The Quarry gets its name from the limestone quarry that it was in the 1830’s. The quarry was, obviously, started for purposes other than an excavation of a future venue for concerts but it makes for the best venue I’ve been to. It only holds about 550 people but that makes for a better experience for me.

It was a magical night. The rains that pelted down last week abated on Thursday and the clouds were long gone when the Librarian and I lined up just outside the gates. While we waited for the gates to open a Quarry staff member gave us a mini programme and our bank account breathed a small sigh of relief that it wouldn’t be losing weight on that front. At 6:00pm the gates opened – this place is punctual – and our tickets were validated. Then the Librarian and I raced to the front of the amphitheatre and found seats in the very first row. Front row seats! Right in front of the microphone!

Flushed with our good fortune (and the exertion of racing to the front) we looked around the Quarry and noted that we were actually at the younger end of the age spectrum. It was a veritable sea of silver follicles. There were some young whippersnappers around but the silver sea was otherwise undiluted by youthful follicular pigmentation. Smiling happily at each other we opened our picnic hamper and indulged in the cold feast therein while people around us forced themselves to eat the food they purchased at the Quarry cafe. Hot food. Hot, delicious smelling food. And reasonably priced, as it turned out. At least the cold feast was delicious. And cheaper.

A young lad called Andy Bull opened the proceedings as we finished our meal. He is quite a talent and one to look out for. Andy’s voice sounds like it got stuck on the edge of puberty and he makes some funny, self effacing jokes about it. He was so entertaining and talented that the Librarian and I decided to buy his CD during the intermission. Our bank account – by now quite complacent after the mini programme episode – was startled at the sudden debit caused by the purchase of not only the CD but a couple of ice creams and a tea towel bearing a painting of the great Tim Finn. (The tea towel will, no doubt, remain a stranger to the dishes and cutlery in the kitchen.)

While our bank account whimpered we resumed our seats and, right on time, out strode Mr Finn singing Dirty Creature. This is the Librarian’s favourite Split Enz song so she was thrilled. This was brilliant Tim Finn, and it only got better. His backing band was tight – it was especially good to see Eddie Raynor on keyboards – and the rhythm section was quite superb on songs ranging from the Split Enz days, through Crowded House, the Finn Brothers and Tim’s solo work. Then they made my day by finishing with my favourite Split Enz song, I See Red.

I tell a little lie, of course. While it is my favourite Split Enz song, I See Red, wasn’t the last song at all. There were two encores and, I suspect, would have been another if not for the local council’s ban on concerts going past 10:00PM. (And by local, I mean Perth. Rock on, people of Perth, but not after 10:00PM; people are trying to sleep!)

And so, Tim, Eddie and the band said good night and the Librarian and I left the Quarry. We stopped at the beach for a while. Sitting in the sand we watched the moon playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds that were drifting in. For just a few moments longer we basked in the magic that was Tim Finn at the Quarry.

Set List For Tim Finn, Quarry Theatre, 21 Nov, 2009

Dirty Creature
She Got Body
Persuasion
6 Months
Luckiest Man
Chocolate Cake
My Mistake
Not Even Close
Couldn’t Be Done
Weather With You
Straw To Gold
Made My Day
I See Red

First Encore

Nothing Unusual
What You’ve Done
Fraction Too Much Friction

Second Encore

Natural
Light Years Away
Astounding Moon

Thanks to Pez who posted the set lists to the Frenz Forum thus filling the gaps in my recollection of the set list.