There really aren’t very many artists or bands from the distant past that I would sell a kidney to see. I know there is a HUGE desire amongst music fans to see Rush (these days only Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson since Neil Peart’s passing several years ago) on tour this year. Tickets are going for crazy money, etc. There’s no desire from me. I barely know any Rush stuff and what I have been exposed to has come to me via Leoni Jane Kennedy covering Rush songs…which have been great. But again, my impervious nature has got the better of me in exploring their music any further. And even if I did take a deep dive and found that I really loved them, I think this tour would be so bloody expensive, there is no way I could or would justify the outlay of a ticket.
But then there is this….
I had heard about this a while back and I think I just set it to the back recesses of my mind having other fish to fry, like getting back to study. Now having had this appear in my recommendations on YouTube and then watched it, it has triggered a big wish and hope that they bring it to the UK for a few dates. Will they? I would like to hope seeing as the band did spend some time in the UK in the early years trying to break through.
When I was very young, I didn’t appreciate the overt avant garde nature of their aesthetic and music. And, of course the more “commercial” aspect of their music, once Neil had joined and they became a bit more “mainstream” – I loved them. I still can’t believe I picked up a copy of ‘I See Red’ at Missing Records a few years back signed by Tim Finn for £4.00! I also picked up an etched vinyl copy of True Colours there as well, which is still one of my most favourite albums ever, ever, ever of the early 1980s.
I never got to see Crowded House back in the day and made sure I rectified that a few years ago and I would absolutely LOVE to be able to do that with Split Enz. It’s not as if the option had been squandered in the past. It was never really an option! They ostensibly disbanded in 1984 and anything that amounted to a tour after that was sporadic at best, and they had stopped any kind of touring completely by 2009. Gigs that did happen were just too far away, or prior to 1984, I was too young.
And now…? Well, the ‘too far away’ problem still exists because for now at least, they seem to be only performing shows in Australia and New Zealand.
I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for any clues that they might just spread their wings northwards and come to shores that lie far beyond the Tropic of Cancer – heading due north. It would be a dream trio of bucket lists for this year – Suzi Quatro, Craig Ferguson and Split Enz. I’d be absolutely made up! It WILL have to be in the UK though. My days of travelling beyond this island is way behind me. Please come over, guys! Think of all the antipodean expats over here.