Crowded House at Thetford Forest

Colin Wilson

AIR Crowded House, who recorded some of the best pop music of the early Nineties, play High Lodge, Thetford Forest on Thursday, July 10, (gates 6pm, music 7.30pm). Originally comprising New Zealander, Neil Finn (vocals, guitar, keyboards), and two Australians, Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass), Crowded House formed in Melbourne in 1985. They first tasted global success with their 1987 hit Don't Dream It's Over and continued to have hits for almost a decade including perennial radio favourites Weather With You and It's Only Natural.

The band produced four studio albums, the first two, Crowded House (1986) and Temple of Low Men (1988) featuring just the founding trio. Neil's brother Tim joined the band for the writing and recording of the third album Woodface (1991), but quit in late 1991.

Tim was replaced by American multi-instrumentalist Mark Hart, who became a permanent member of Crowded House and played on their final studio album Together Alone (1993) and also on the new songs which featured on Recurring Dream, the best of Crowded House released in 1996.

Hugely successful in the UK, where Recurring Dream sold more than a million copies, Crowded House won the Brit for Best International Group in 1994. The band split in 1996 following a farewell concert outside Sydney Opera House.

In July 2007 the re-united Crowded House released the album Time On Earth, their first studio album since Together Alone. With a line-up featuring founder members Neil Finn and Nick Seymour, former member Mark Hart and new drummer Matt Sherrod, the album entered the UK charts at number three and included the singles Don't Stop Now, She Called Up and Pour Le Monde.

Following the released of the album the band went onto perform more than 70 live shows in 12 countries as part of their Live on Earth world tour to a rapturous response from fans and glowing reviews from the critics.

Special guests of Crowded House are the Southampton quartet Delays, who recently returned to the fray with the release of their album Everything's the Rush (Fiction Records).

Having signed to Rough Trade in 2004, Delays released their debut album Faded Seaside Glamour the same year. A riot of page-boy haircuts, nifty riffs and celestial harmonies, it boasted top 20 hits Long Time Coming and Nearer Than Heaven and prompted one national newspaper to describe them as “the first guitar band in a decade to lay claim to the melodic guitar pop throne invented by the Byrds and the Hollies.”

Follow-up You See Colours (2006) spawned the hits Valentine and Hideaway and brought both an army of new admirers and a mutually agreed split from Rough Trade. Delays are confidently looking to the future, with a new deal with Fiction and a new album.

The schoolboy friends and band-mates for a decade (brothers Greg and Aaron Gilbert, Colin Fox and Rowly) are geared up and ready to go.

t Tickets £30 (subject to booking fee).

t McFly - Tom, Danny, Harry and Dougie - be perform at High Lodge next Friday (July 11, gates 6pm, music 7.30pm). It's less than four years since McFly released their debut single, Five Colours in Her Hair. In that time the band have enjoyed a soaraway success, achieving chart-topping albums and seven number one singles. Frontman Tom Fletcher has made chart history having written more number one hits than U2, Queen and Robbie Williams (and all before the age of 21). Their popularity has also been recognised via numerous awards including a Brit for Best Pop Act and Best Live Act at the Virgin Awards. Tickets £26 (subject to booking fee).

t Classical superstar Katherine Jenkins performs at High Lodge, Thetford Forest, Suffolk, on Saturday July 12 as part of The Forestry Commission's 2008 Forest Tour. Classical / pop crossover act Blake are Katherine's special guests. Tickets are £28.50 (subject to booking fee)

t 01842 814612 Forestry Commission ticket hotline/information; www.forestry.gov.uk/music www.gigsandtours.com www.ticketmaster.co.uk