Former Crowded House frontman Neil Finn certainly believes in keeping his concerts interesting. Earlier this year, the New Zealander performed in Auckland with a band made up of members of Radiohead, Pearl Jam and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. But for sheer audacity, this gig was hard to beat.

The Band Of Strangers were exactly that ; a group of musicians who had met only hours before going onstage with Finn. The 11 guest performers for this show, one of three played by Finn in the past week, came largely from Merseyside and were selected after submitting tapes of their work.

The night started with a short acoustic set, with Finn backed by multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano and bassist Sebastian Steinberg, members of his regular band.

The second half was more energetic. With Finn's pool of guitarists, bassists, drummers, keyboardists and back-up vocalist Tricia McTeague taking turns to shine - there were never more than six guests onstage together - the band played with a spirit and togetherness which belied their limited rehearsal time. Robust versions of Crowded House hits It's Only Natural and Weather With You were rendered with great aplomb.

With players coming and going with bewildering speed, the show was often chaotic, but the set-up worked in the small club setting. Finn dedicated Four Seasons In One Day to Liverpool Football Club (much to the chagrin of Evertonians in the audience), but won over all the local supporters with a cover of The La's Timeless Melody.

"I don't know my own songs as well as some of these guys", said Finn, as a remarkable set neared it's finale. "They are amazing - what a band!"