“It’s so good to be here to see your smiling faces,” Neil Finn tells the crowd.
“We’re a little late - only two years but you hung in there and so did we…"
A rapturous applause greets his nod to the fact the world is now a very different place to when Crowded House were planning their Dreamers Are Waiting UK/Europe tour in 2021.
Everyone has a pandemic story to tell. Some have lost loved ones while others have fought tirelessly on the frontline caring for the sick.
But tonight we’re all celebrating the new ‘norm’.
And for me that was something that I wasn’t sure I would ever see. I had to shield through the pandemic and so when I saw the Crowded House tour had been rescheduled I bought a ticket that became a symbol of hope.
Hope that I would survive and make it through the other side.
Fast forward a year and here I am. I bloody hung in there Neil and what a feeling it is!
The band bounced on stage to Distant Sun with a crunching solo at the end from Neil before bursting into It's Only Natural.
Foot stomping bassist Nick Seymour wearing a Scottish kilt drove the back line all night with Neil's son Elroy on drums.
"What a great room this is!" Neil mused as he recalled always wanting to play at Camden's Roundhouse again after his former band Split Enz graced the stage in the late 70s but it "never seemed to work out".
Now Crowded House have played not just one, but four nights for what was the group's first UK gigs in more than 10 years.
And with only a 5,000 capacity it was Crowded House at their most intimate clocking up 25 songs across two hours.
Fans were treated to some of the band's greatest hits along with new numbers from the latest album offering Dreamers Are Waiting.
Goodnight Everyone sung by Neil's son Liam and Show Me The Way took us on a dreamy, trippy journey that showcased the great harmonies in the band.
And the band weren't the only ones in fine voice with Finn comparing the crowd to a Welsh choir after a huge singalong to Fall At Your Feet.
Addressing the crowd Neil asked: "Do you feel like singing London? I can hear you already. I just want to hear you again without all these guys making so much noise."
Introducing Pineapple Head Neil explained how apt it now was that son Liam was on stage with him because he wrote the song when Liam was young and up all night with a fever and started talking gibberish. He quickly ran upstairs and wrote down some lyrics!
From fevers to 'awkward conversations around the Finn dinner table' and When You Come 'bursted and exploded' into the crowd.
"What's that about Dad?" Finn recalled his sons asking when they were younger. With Liam on guitar and Elroy on drums now part of the line-up Neil smiles and tells us "we've resolved that now".
The mesmerising Private Universe was a treat both on the eyes and the ears with a journey into space being projected on to a giant screen behind the band.
Liam's haunting slide guitar slowly builds the song through to it's frantic climax before Mitchell Froom on keys and Liam bring us back down to earth slowly and into another sing along for Four Seasons In One Day.
Whatever You Want couldn't be more appropriate in the current partygate scandal with the lyrics 'this is not right, this man is a fake, but they will follow him down to the edge of the cliff, and if he tells them to jump, they will jump right in."
Finn brilliantly sets the song up by asking the crowd: "Is it just me or is the world currently run by a bunch of f***wits?"
He adds: "And they’re being followed around by more f***wits saying 'choose me, choose me'. This is for them...
The last half an hour turned into a singfest of old favourites once the opening to Don't Dream It's Over rung out around the auditorium before the party atmosphere carried on for World Where We Live and a brilliant call and response with Finn and the crowd.
And when the jangling guitar chords were strummed for the start of Weather With You, the crowd erupted for one final time and in their best 'Welsh choir voices' joined in unison to sing their hearts out.
Speaking to the Irish Independent in 2019 about a new album and tour Neil described the band as a "really nice car up on blocks in the garage" adding: "All it would take is a bit of a dust-off and some new tyres on it and it's running again."
Well, this car has definitely been polished to perfection and let's hope there's plenty more gas in the tank to keep it running for a a long time yet.
Set list
Distant Sun
It's Only Natural
Nails In My Feet
Goodnight Everyone
Fall At Your Feet
Pineapple Head
Show Me The way
Playing With Fire
When You Come
Private Universe
Four Seasons In One Day
Italian Plastic (First time played live by band since 2016)
Sister Madly
Bad Times Good
To The Island
Into Temptation
Locked Out
Whatever You Want
Don't Dream It's Over
World Where We Live
Weather With You
ENCORE
Something So Strong
Poor Boy Split Enz cover (Live debut by Crowded House)
How Will You Go (First time played live by band since 2016)
Better Be Home Soon
Crowded House play The Roundhouse tonight (Wednesday June 8)
