Where's My Room (The Neil & Liam Finn Summer 2018 Tour)

Photos and text by Ian Jorgensen (Blink) of the epic summer tour of rural and provincial town halls, organised and promoted by Ian, for Neil & Liam Finn.

304 pages, softcover, A Low Hum publishing (ALH056).

All images shot on 35mm film.

In the summer of 2018 Neil & Liam Finn teamed up with A Low Hum for a tour that took them to spots even the most ardent of Kiwi nomads would be hard-placed to point out on a map - communities such as Purekireki, Tauhei, Tirohanga, Himatangi Beach and Absurdistan. It was a way to connect with audiences often neglected by touring musicians combined with an epic summer road-trip.

‘Where’s My Room’ was both a vacation for the Finns and their friends and a celebration of that li’l kiwi battler, the community hall. Nineteen shows in all, the tour stretched throughout January and saw Neil and Liam Finn debut live a wealth of material from their new collaborative album, Lightsleeper, as well as digging into the various band members’ envious and deep back catalogue of hits.

 Utilising his privileged position as promoter and tour manager, notorious music photographer Ian Jorgensen captured intimate moments of the Finns, crew and the visited communities on 35mm film. His candid portraiture documents the tour behind-the-scenes, showing what it’s like to be out on-the-road in rural New Zealand from the perspective of one of touring’s most roadworn advocates.

 Wake up, drive, load-in, set-up, sound-check, rest, perform, pack-down, load-out, sleep, repeat. This is what happens when twenty-odd friends, family, band and crew head out on the road in rural New Zealand and attempt something out-of-the-ordinary.

 “Young New Zealanders head out as soon as they can - but are they missing something precious on their own doorstep? Now the world seems fixated on watching itself in a spiral of despair, perhaps there is something to be discovered by exploring the margins; what’s happening unobserved in the small towns. Some truth.” 

Neil Finn.

Full tour dates listed below.

A Low Hum presents Where’s My Room, January 2018

3 Piha, Barnett Hall

4 Warkworth, Warkworth Hall

5 Waipu, Coronation Hall

6 Kaiwaka, Kaiwaka Memorial Hall

7 Absurdistan, Absurdistan Hall

9 Tauhei, Tauhei Memorial Hall

10 Tirohanga, Tirohanga Settlers Hall

11 Pirongia, Pirongia Hall

12 Pukekohe, Buckland Hall

15 Waipawa, CHB Municipal Theatre

16 Himatangi Beach, Himatangi Beach Hall

17 Paekakariki, St Peter’s Village Hall

19 Akaroa, The Gaiety

20 Oxford, Oxford Town Hall

21 Lake Tekapo, Lake Tekapo Community Hall

23 Hawea Flat, Hawea Flat Hall

24 Arrowtown, Athenaeum Hall

26 Purekireki, Purekireki Hall

27 Milton, Milton Coronation Hall

The Neil & Liam Finn touring band consisted of Neil Finn, Liam Finn, Elroy Finn, Sharon Finn, Connan Mockasin, EJ Barnes, Jimmy Metherell, John Carroll Kirby & Molly Lewis