大象传媒

'Look at those lovely trees'

Having initially said their 'Farewell To The World' on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in 1996, founder member Neil Finn re-formed Crowded House in 2007 whilst working on a solo album, which eventually became their most recent long-player Time On Earth.

Finn was once again joined on stage by Crowded House stalwarts Nick Seymour and Mark Hart, and amongst others, Finn's youngest son, Elroy, on guitar.

The band kicked off their two hour set with When You Come to tumultuous cheering from the 6000 strong crowd who were appreciating the chance to see their heroes back in action after an 11-year hiatus.

The set consisted of plenty of crowd-pleasers as well as material from their new album, with Finn also declaring that the band are in the midst of working on songs for an album to be released in the near future.

It's Only Natural

With darker clouds looming over the forest the band were in playful mood, bantering with the crowd and even getting everyone to sing Happy Birthday to drummer Matt Sherrod, as they teased him about turning 40 the day after the show.

With everyone in good spirits Finn launched into Don鈥檛 Dream It's Over, usually one for the end of a set, but no one seemed to mind and everyone duly obliged to a mass sing-a-long to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

Mark Hart

The band were clearly enjoying being back on stage together once again as they launched into crowd favourite Distant Sun before heading off for a well deserved, but brief, break.

A rousing round of applause and plenty of cheering saw Crowded House return triumphantly to the stage minutes later to deliver more crowd pleasers like Weather With You, which was for many a highlight of the evening.

After belting out Fingers of Love Finn declared they were supposed to head off stage once again but vociferously declared they were going to stay and play on!

The band ended their set with Four Seasons In One Day; a very apt song for a typical British Summer's day, before climaxing with a rousing rendition of Private Universe.

Crowded House took their bows as their fans made their way to the exits after a brilliant evening's entertainment, safe in the knowledge that Finn and Co will be back on these shores some time in the not too distant future.

And with all being well, hopefully this will be to promote a new album with another tour, but whether they will be playing at as magnificent and as beautiful a venue as Thetford is highly unlikely.