I've had a pretty amazing month for catching old favorites in live settings. In the past 30 days, I've seen The Police at Dodger Stadium and Paul McCartney at Amoeba Records. But I honestly think last night topped both of those.Seeing Neil Finn and Crowded House in my favorite venue in Los Angeles, the 300-capacity Troubadour, was the treat of a lifetime. They started with a ripping version of one of my favorites, "Locked Out," then tore through a 90-minute set that featured five tracks off their new album and so many old favorites I can barely keep track: "World Where You Live," "Fall at Your Feet," "Something So Strong," "When You Come," "Distant Sun." The band sounded great throughout. Neil was in fine voice, Nick Seymour's crafty basslines were in full effect, the perennially underrated Mark Hart juggled keyboards, guitar, pedal steel and harmony vocals like a champ, and Neil's son Elroy provided nice, low-key support on acoustic guitar. And CH's new drummer, Matt Sherrod, did the late Paul Hester proud, giving the uptempo numbers a real rush of added energy that the rest of the band seemed to feed off of all night.The crowd was just as great as the band, and not just because my girlfriend and I literally kept bumping into friends everywhere we turned - it seemed like everyone we knew was there. It's always been my experience that CH fans are just a nicer, smarter, friendlier bunch than your average rock concert crowd. And man, could this crowd sing! Neil commented a few times on how good the singalong bits sounded.Oh yeah - we also got to meet the Flight of the Conchords guys, which was pretty neat. And it wouldn't be a Hollywood show without at least one good celebrity anecdote, so here's mine: I nearly tripped over Ryan Gosling on my way to the bathroom. He was sitting in the stairwell thumbing away at his Sidekick.Just when I thought the show couldn't get any better - before their first encore, I was speculating with a friend about what they would play. We knew "Weather With You" and "Don't Dream It's Over" were coming, but what else? "They probably won't play it, but I'd love to hear 'Pineapple Head,'" I said. Two minutes later, Neil and the boys were back onstage, playing - you guessed it - "Pineapple Head." I love my life.Oh, and as for the new songs: They're good. Laced with more melancholy than most of the CH classics, but unmistakably Neil Finn songs, which is to say filled with equal parts pop hooks and unexpected little twists and turns and odd chord progressions. And at least one, "Silent House," is amazing, the kind of song that makes you feel two feet taller just for having heard it. I'm so glad Neil decided to do his own version of it (he originally co-wrote it with the Dixie Chicks for their last album).I'm not much for taking pics or videos at concerts, but some enterprising soul caught "Locked Out" from an earlier small show they did just before Coachella. They were way tighter at the Troubadour show, but you get a sense of the energy and enthusiasm these guys still have.