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The crowd singalong to Don't Dream It's Over is a flop, but Crowded House are back.
There's no better place to play their first gig in more than 10 years than just after sunset in the middle of the Southern Californian desert, at the Coachella Festival.
Try as Neil Finn might, the crowd aren't into singing along to the band's most well-known song and their biggest American hit. Oh well, it's great to hear again.
Earlier in the day Finn and bass player Nick Seymour are holed up at the Viceroy Hotel in Palm Springs, a plush but tacky-looking place that's stuck in an 80s time warp.
They're beaming about the band being back together with Mark Hart, who joined towards the end of Crowded House's run, and new drummer Matt Sherrod replacing Paul Hester, who died in 2005. Neil Finn's son Liam - who is about to release a solo album while on a hiatus from his band betchadupa - is also part of the live line-up.
Before the gig at Coachella they played three warm-up shows - one in Bristol, and two in the United States - and Finn says it's a good feeling seeing people's reaction to the old songs again.
"It's been pretty joyous really," he says. "There's a little bit of hanging on by the skin of our teeth as to what songs we've been rehearsing, but it's just tremendously exciting."
Seymour is still getting to grips with performing live again. "I will get really nervous when I get to the [festival] site," he says. "But we've just got to let the music do the talking," he says with a smile.
"At this point," adds Finn, "I'm just determined to enjoy it. I don't know how many people will know us, but we've got a great spot."
The band played their final show at the Sydney Opera House in 1996. Finn says it was always a possibility the band would reform. Last year, he and Seymour started working on songs, many of which are on the new album, Time On Earth.
At Coachella it's working well. Despite the botched Don't Dream It's Over singalong they nail the harmonies. Sherrod can also sing like Hester did, and Finn and Seymour look like they're having fun.
It has to be said, the audience are mostly either hip and young, or here for final-night headliners, the reformed Rage Against the Machine. So as Finn suggested, many may not even know who Crowded House are.
In the 45-minute set they only play two songs from new album, Time On Earth, with new single, Don't Stop Now (co written by Johnny Marr, formerly of the Smiths), and the eerie Silent House, a song Finn co-wrote with the Dixie Chicks.
But hey, this is America, so why not play all the hits. So there's World Where You Live and Something So Strong, from their self-titled debut, and elsewhere Better Be Home Soon, Fall At Your Feet and the highlight, Private Universe, shows the old songs still haven't lost their classic charm.
There are plans for a Crowded House world tour so indeed, they will be home soon.
Don't dream it's over - It's not
The newly reformed Crowded House will headline the Australian Live Earth Concert in Sydney on July 7. The Aussie Stadium concert comes almost 11 years after the band's farewell gig on the steps of the city's opera house.
Songwriter Neil Finn said it was fitting that the band should recommence its Australian career in the city where it left off.
Crowded House will feature alongside international and local bands at the event which is one of seven being held simultaneously around the world to raise awareness of climate change. It's expected a New Zealand tour will follow the band's Australian dates
- additional reporting: AAP
