Tuesday 02/12/08 Liam Finn @ The Scala, London

Reinventing the one man band is not an enviable task, but when you’re the son of a   mutli-million selling artist, it might just be possible. Liam Finn is the offspring of Neil Finn, of Kiwi soft rockers Crowded House fame. However do not be off by the connection.  He hasn’t followed in his father’s footsteps and penned a load of bland easy listening tunes, instead the dishevelled pint sized rocker, opts for a much more experimental approach to song writing.  

The Scala is packed tonight with his fellow countrymen, many of whom seem to have adopted his vagrant style and are sporting impressive unkempt bushy beards. Liam arrives on stage to a warm reception, and begins with the rather tame ‘Better to Be’.  Things soon pick up when Liam shows why he is so good live.  He picks up his guitar and starts hammering out the riff of ‘Better to Be’ and records it live, next picks up a bass guitar and does the same. With both tracks now recorded onto his box of tricks he jumps on to the drums and emphatically pounds away to give the song a devastating crescendo.

Liam continues in this manner for the rest of the set, injecting some much needed life and energy into songs that sound too pedestrian on record. However the set is not all crashing drums and psychotic effects pedals. The gentle harmonies on ‘To The Chapel’ bring a more peaceful element to the proceedings.  On the title track of his debut L.P ‘I’ll Be Lightning’ he invites his co writer Charlie from support act Connan and the Moccasins, for a sing along. With Liam’s stage partner liza-Jane Barnes also taking to the harp for the song, the music quickly develops into live jam session.   

Before he finishes he continues to impress the crowd with outlandish guitar antics and live mutli-layered recordings. No more so than on ‘Lead Balloon’, on which he invites the crowd to offer some vocals for recording. With the ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ backing vocals now taken care of he unleashes himself on his guitar, laying down some visceral riffs,   and is joined by Barnes for some frantic rocking out.

Tonight Liam has done what every great live act should do. He has taken his songs and taken them to another level by reinterpreting them live, and injecting as much energy and life into them as possible.