Neil Finn - Crowded House
photo by Mike Bouchard

(more photos from Ottawa Bluesfest)

Crowded House recently played at the Ottawa Bluesfest and I for one was very excited to see them.  Being a Crowded House fan since about 1987, I've only had one opportunity to see them, and that was back in 1988 or 89 at Queen's University's Grant Hall in Kingston, ON.  That's when they were a three-piece with Paul Hester on drums.  Unfortunately, he passed tragically in 2005.

The night that Crowded House played at the Ottawa Bluesfest, they were up against a serious blues act, the Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi band.  I could only shoot one of these shows, so with the help of Dave Barrett, jambands.ca got both shows photographically covered.  Unfortunately, Crowded House had a strict photographer list, but using my charisma skill of +25, I was able to join the authorized photographers for a few songs.  "Something So Strong" was one of them.  I think it was note-for-note identical to the version that they played back in 1988 which was a stark contrast to how Phil Lesh and Bob Weir approached Truckin'.

The other night, Crowded House was joined on stage by the legendary David Byrne of the Talking Heads and together, they performed a couple of TH classics, "Once In A Lifetime" and "Road to Nowhere".  Check these out for a very cool collaboration at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.