Neil Finn: Olympia, Dublin

IT'S five years since the shutters came down on Crowded House but Neil Finn still appears to be a highly valued property. Earlier this month in his native New Zealand, Finn was joined on stage by a slew of special guests that included members of the Smiths (Johnny Marr), Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder) and Radiohead (Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway). Evidently feeling quite chuffed with himself, Finn has followed Robbie Williams's advice to sing when you're winning and titled his new record One Nil. It's his second offering as a solo artist and is proof that when it comes to well-crafted, mature songwriting, Finn can still score.

Early on in the show, Finn declared that he was dispensing with the set-list, to the secret horror of his band, one imagines, and the delight of the crowd. So when a fan shouted up a request for Where is My Soul?, Finn duly obliged, guiding his musicians through the song by announcing the chords in between verses. What it lacked in cohesion, it made up for in the thrill of its spontaneity.

Newer material such as Driving Me Mad and Taking the Rest of the Day Off, for instance, were obviously a lot better rehearsed, with the session player Lisa Germano in particular catching the eye as she moved effortlessly between electric guitar, violin and keyboards while providing wispy backing harmonies that dovetailed nicely with Finn's McCartneyesque vocal stylings.

Clad in a white T-shirt and, he informs us, the denim jacket of his former bandmate Nick Seymour, Finn is a refreshingly unpretentious breed of pop star, even summoning up a member of the audience to help him through the Crowded House classic Four Seasons in One Day, a song quite probably about Irish weather patterns.

An acoustic interlude that includes the lovely Sweet Dreams, from the recent odds-and-sods compilation, and Not The Girl You Think You Are suggests that Finn is at his best when pared down to the bare bones, allowing the songs to shine brightest when unadorned. This is underlined during an overextended instrumental workout when the momentum of the show was briefly lost in an interminable squall of feedback.

Things perked up again for She Will Have Her Way from the first solo album, but the highlight of the gig came after the break with a beautifully delivered and moving rendition of the Crowded House ballad Private Universe. The Dublin-based Seymour then joined the party for the rousing Pineapple Head and, inevitably, Weather With You.