Neil Finn's triumphant return to NZ with Fleetwood Mac

Neil Finn is almost certainly New Zealand's greatest popular music export. For the sheer quality of his songwriting over a 40 year career, there's no one to touch him. Yet, despite all those years of touring and making records, nothing could have prepared him for suddenly being part of one of the biggest bands in the world. When he joined Fleetwood Mac last year, replacing Lindsey Buckingham, the stakes got much bigger.

Finn is New Zealand's Paul McCartney, the creator of many memorable tunes including 'I Got You' for Split Enz, 'Don't Dream It's Over' and 'Weather With You' and many others for Crowded House. In his solo career he has also collaborated with his brother Tim and others including Shawn Colvin, Jeff Tweedy and Wendy & Lisa. 

Me with Neil Finn messing about on the river in 2008

Comparisons with McCartney are not so far-fetched. Neil's melodies are clearly influenced in some ways by The Beatles and Neil is a big fan of Paul's. On my one meeting with Neil, on a boat cruise along the river Thames in 2008, he talked about McCartney and how much he loved the album 'Ram', one of Paul's early solo records.

I first saw Neil live in 2001, just a few weeks after my family and I had emigrated to New Zealand. He was promoting a new solo album, One Nil, which featured songs he had created with Prince's former associates Wendy & Lisa. It's a great album and you can hear the positive influence that Wendy & Lisa had on his music. I wish he had done more work with them.

The live shows in Auckland, at the St James Theatre, were billed as '7 Worlds Collide, Neil Finn & Friends', featuring Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Johnny Marr from The Smiths, with Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway from Radiohead. Neil was clearly very comfortable in this collaborative setting and the concept was extended in 2008 when he convened a second '7 Worlds Collide' project. 

This yielded the double CD 'And The Sun Came Out'. Singing and songwriting contributions were divided amongst the group, which featured Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of Wilco, Radiohead's Phil Selway, Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and New Zealand songwriters Don McGlashan and Bic Runga. 

I mentioned to Neil when I met him that I have enjoyed these collaborations, including the work with Wendy & Lisa, almost as much as his regular solo gig and the Crowded House albums. He said it was all part of keeping things fresh and interesting, for him as much as for the listener. 

When Crowded House reformed in 2007, I saw them play at Hyde Park in London. The show was notable for the fact that when they played 'Weather With You' Neil was rapping with the crowd about how the sun was shining in Hyde Park, while it was raining at Glastonbury. Soon enough, the dark clouds loomed overhead. A little later, after Neil had told the black clouds to go away (he didn't say it as politely as that..) the heavens opened.

I've seen him a few times since then, on the boat in London, playing with his wife and son Liam as the group 'Breakfast Club' - and back in Auckland with Tim when they had an album out together. 

Then he joined Fleetwood Mac last year, which came right out of the blue. He wouldn't have been on anyone's list of people likely to replace Lindsey Buckingham - except for the one person who mattered, Mick Fleetwood. 

Here's TVNZ's interview with Neil about how he got the gig.

When the live shows were announced for Auckland, I grabbed some tickets, mainly because I wanted to see Neil coming home to play in NZ. 

And it was emotional. On Thursday night, the first of four shows at Auckland's Spark Arena, Fleetwood Mac - with NZ boy Neil Finn fronting them - put on a great show. From the moment he first engaged the crowd with "Kia ora, Auckland!" and launched into a hearty version of 'Second Hand News' it was clear Neil was fired up for this show. 

He got a lovely reception from his home crowd and it really was emotional to see him fronting the Mac, belting out the Split Enz classic ‘I Got You’ and the wonderful ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ - watch this clip:

In their between-song chat, Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks showed the utmost respect for Neil, his songs and what they meant to audiences around the world. Referring to 'Don't Dream It's Over', Fleetwood said, "Many years ago, I heard the most beautiful song. I had no idea who was singing it ... or from whence they came ... but it stayed right in my heart and all these years later, we play it together, now with a dear, dear friend of mine, who came from these parts here."

What a proud moment.

Musically, the band sounded polished (after 75 gigs, I suppose you'd expect them to be) and the two new guys gave the music just the right amount of rock and roll bite. Tom Petty's guitar partner Mike Campbell took most of the responsibility for Lindsay's lead guitar parts and the band paid tribute to Petty with a version of Free Falling (Stevie singing) as part of their encore. They also paid tribute to Peter Green, the Mac's original lead guitarist in the 1960s - covering his songs Oh Well, Man Of The World and Black Magic Woman.

Check 'em out if you can while they're still in NZ. Two more shows in Auckland this week (16th and 19th) and one in Dunedin on the 21st.

Here are two different views of 'I Got You' in Auckland:
Part 1

and Part 2

Fleetwood Mac's Set list in Auckland:

The Chain / Little Lies / Dreams / Second Hand News / Say You Love Me/ Black Magic Woman /Everywhere / I Got You / Rhiannon / World Turning / Gypsy/ Oh Well/ Man of the World / Don't Dream It's Over/ Landslide / Hold Me / You Make Loving Fun / Gold Dust Woman / Go Your Own Way / Free Fallin' / Don't Stop