Crowded House at the Masonic Hall, West 23rd Street NYC

Great show from the reformed Crowded House, recorded for a tv broadcast. Very loose. Nice moment when an improv of "Tomorrow Never Knows" popped up in the encore.

The set list:

People are like suns
Locked out
Nobody wants to
Don't stop now
Distant sun
Heaven that I'm making
You're the one to make me cry
Pineapple head (w. "hava nagila" break)
Fall at your feet
She called up
Transit lounge
Silent house
Pour le monde
It's a good room now (improv on Masonic Lodge auditorium)
When you come
Mean to me

Encore 1
Tea for two (really!)
Something so strong
Better be home soon
Don't dream it's over

Encore 2
Fingers of love
Recurring dream
Spill the wine
Four seasons in one day

(Kindly provided by Frenzforum)

Here's a crude video of what the Masonic room looked like. A great venue for this kind of a performance. Opened with Mark Hart playing the organ at the back of the balcony.

Here is coverage of the concert, including photos, on the Hidden Track blog.

Here are some links to videos that were recorded for AOL's Spinner site.

Last Monday, the band appeared on KCRW in Santa Monica on "All Things Eclectic." A video and audio of the performance is available here.

Here is a session and interview they did for Radio New Zealand. Fun to hear the stronger kiwi accents! In the words of the station:

Live from Neil Finn's Roundhead Studio, the band talk to Afternoon host Jim Mora, and perform Pour Le Monde, People Are Like Suns, and Fall At Your Feet. Engineered by Neil Baldock. Thanks to Roundhead and EMI. 13 July 2007. Here is the link.

Bryan Ferry on the streets of London

Daily Telegraph review of a July 3 outdoor concert in London.

Steve James Reuters interview here.

Crowded House speak to The Times of London

Once upon a time newspapers didn't even have pictures. Now they have websites and podcasts and they talk at you. Here's an interview on mp3 to download with the members of Crowded House conducted by The Times (of London) around July 3 of this year.

Here's the VH1 Crowded House site with lots of videos.

Here's the MTV Crowded House site, also with many videos.

More record store developments

The funky and useful FOPP music chain just went bust in the UK. Here's a link to a Billboard story about the stores closing. It was always a good place to pick up Euro catalogue albums at 5 pounds or so -- cheap for London.

Meanwhile Rough Trade is going super-specialist with a mega-store in London's East End. This story from the London Sunday Times sadly went to bed before the news of FOPP folding broke, which is embarrassing because the piece cites FOPP as a model of how to run a record store in the internet age...

French Bulldog Shameless Exploitation

Two of New York's Power Pups, according to the July 8, 2007 New York Post. That's Francesca and Sharky with Martha Stewart.