I finally got to see Crowded House in concert on Friday night. I've been trying to see Neil Finn in one of his many iterations for several years, but each time I've had something happen to prevent it. The first time I had tickets to see Neil Finn on his own (also at the 9:30 Club which is where Crowded House was on Friday). That day, I came down with a massive migraine and simply couldn't face the idea of driving all the way down there and sitting through a concert while undergoing such pain.
Fast forward a few years and I had tickets to see the Finn Brothers at the Birchmere. This time, we planned to go with some friends. Instead, there was a huge snowstorm, which was not enough to cancel the show, but was enough to make our roads impassable. So I was foiled again.
On Friday, I waited all day for something horrible to happen to prevent our attendance. Yet, nothing did. We drove up and got to the club with no hassles at all. We walked in and Shauna wanted to walk up pretty close to the stage. This surprised me because she hates crowds and it would only get worse when the band came out. So up we went. A few minutes later Crowded House came out and started playing. They looked and sounded great. About the fourth song into the set, Shauna turned around and gave me a funny look and slowly sunk to her knees. It seems that, though it wasn't packed like sardines or anything, the heat in the enclosed space was enough to cause her to pass out.
People in the crowd helped me catch her and walk her off to the side. By this time she had recovered her senses enough to walk on her own. So we ended up going to a little alcove in the back with couches. I got her some ice water and she seemed to be all right, but the moment was kind of spoiled. I couldn't really concentrate on the music because I was stressed out and wondering if she was going to take another nose dive.
The band played a long time and it was good, it's just that I was too distracted to pay complete attention.
Oh well, below is a clip someone shot from the audience:
