SeanceMascara

Meredith 2010. Sunset Saturday. Neil Finn stands backstage, “do I just walk on?” “Yep – old school” says the Stage Manager. He’s playing solo to 10,000 people. He walks out, smiles to the crowd, picks up his guitar. “Can you be my band tonight?”; crowd says yes. They provide the rhythmic track to ‘I Got You’, it goes really well. Second comes ‘One Step Ahead’, crowd loving it now. For the next hour the biggest singalong ever heard out there goes down. The most joyful passionate singing you could hear. The sun sets, we get a string of incredible songs, theres joy in the air, couples sway, grown men cry. For ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ Warren Ellis from Dirty Three walks on and plays the middle eight on violin, planned backstage impromptu. Place goes crazy. ‘Fall At Your Feet’ is a bittersweet triumph. Neil gets a guy named “Matthew” out of the crowd to play guitar, gets the biggest applause of the day “Matthew’s sorted tonight” cracks Neil. Finishes with ‘Better Be Home Soon’. It’s hard to really describe how just wonderful this moment was. It was perfect. Religious.