One of Aotearoa's greatest musicians pleasantly surprised market-goers with a performance over the weekend.
Neil Finn attended Coatesville Markets on Sunday and played a whole bunch of his greatest tunes with former Split Enz bandmate Eddie Rayner.
Michelle Vaughan, one of the people lucky enough to be there, shared plenty of footage on her social media. In her comments, she mentions that “so many” people walked past, thinking it was just another local musician busking.
Those who made the correct choice to sit down and enjoy the greatness said he was incredible.
“He was absolutely awesome,” one person told the NZ Herald, adding that he played “all his bangers.”
“When people walked by and realised it was him, they couldn’t believe it.”
One of the ‘bangers’ he played was the masterpiece ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’. After he finished the song, someone in the crowd reportedly yelled out “that was so much better than Bono!”, about the U2 frontman recently covering the song at a Las Vegas Show.
In response to the audience member, Finn laughed and called it “such a Kiwi comment.”
Organisers of the markets at Coatesville, located in Auckland’s North Shore, asked Finn if he would play but “didn’t expect he would say yes”.
“You have our hearts, Neil Finn,” they wrote in a Facebook post. “What an incredible day.”
Last year at another Auckland market, roles were reversed when it was a famous musician who was bowled over by some Kiwi performers.
Vanessa Abernethy and John Gorbey, who make up the musical duo 2Fold, were casually performing at the Auckland Fish Market when a man enthusiastically applauded before running up to them. That man was none other than Michael Bublé.
Looks like markets are the place to be!
