Finn scores with crowd

Former Crowded House frontman Neil Finn performed at the Corn Exchange last night.

NEIL Finn is the perfect antidote to just about everything that is wrong with popular music.

There can't be many better reasons for spending a night at the Corn Exchange than listening to a craftsman songwriter with a cracking voice and a top quality band in full flood.

What you get is the man and his guitar, or rather a selection of guitars, knocking out one gem after the other, from country tinged tunes to heavy rock, all delivered with good humour and grace.

Finn is on tour to promote his new solo album One Nil and a good wedge of the record was duly performed last night, fitting in nicely with the classics from Finn's spell as frontman for Crowded House.

Whether the new songs, good as they are, become as well-liked as Fall At Your Feet, which ended the set of around 20 songs and Weather With You remains to be seen, simply because time has passed and it is difficult to compete with past glories.

Needless to say Finn fans were out in force, although the audience did not seem to come alive until the encore ­ something I have never understood about the Corn Exchange where bands are made to work for their money and an academic approach seems to be taken to entertainment.

Finn certainly seemed to be enjoying himself on stage, moving off the set list to throw in bits of old tunes to illustrate his between songs chats. For a craftsman Finn took the rather rash step of inviting a member of the audience to join him on stage to provide stand in vocals for his brother Tim on Four Seasons In One Day, a move which could have been disastrous, but the mystery singer ­ who did not appear to be a plant ­ acquitted himself well and clearly had his night made for him in the process. Finn is without doubt one of the best singer-songwriters performing anywhere.