Neil Finn: Palace Theatre, London

This one-off gig felt like a party where most of the guests already knew each other: every New Zealander in the northern hemisphere seemed to have turned out to see pop's most celebrated Kiwi. The Palace is the theatre where Les Miserables has been playing for 16 years, and the floppy- quiffed tunesmith could not stop himself breaking into stentoriann renditions of "My Name is Jean Valjean" on the flimsiest of pretexts. The intimacy of the theatre also brought the crowd close enough to the former Crowded House singer to shout out advice and requests. Finn cheerfully fielded all of them, and handed out chocolates.

He began conventionally enough, bouncing on with an acoustic guitar to sing When You Come and You're Not The Girl You Think You Are, but Finn was in the mood for taking some risks. He invited members of the audience on stage to accompany him, apparently unrehearsed. A gangly bloke called Stephen proved adept on piano, and they were joinged by Mickey for a very creditable rendition of Four Seasons In One Day. Finn looked delighted.

The performance had at least one serious motive - to plug Finn's forthcoming album, One Nil. As digital cameras recorded the occasion for a webcast, Finn introduced his hastily assembled band - Dave on drums, Sebastian on bass and former Prince acolytes Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman on guitar and piano. Finn had bumped into Wendy and Lisa in Los Angeles, and they ended up all over the new album, with Melvoin sharing five writing credits.

Finn admitted the band were under-rehearsed, but watching skilful musicians working out their moves in public always brings a tingle of excitement. Some of the new songs - such as the wistful Wherever You Are - are classic Finn, while others spin off into jazz-inflected territory (such as Lisa's meandering keyboard outro to Secret God). Don't Ask Why is bouncing funk-rock built around a tortuous riff.

But the crowd wanted some old favourites. There was a heart-stopping arrangement of Private Universe, with Finn and Wendy interlocking guitars over Lisa's hushed keyboards. For Weather With You, Finn plucked out of the audience a chap called Steve, who just happened to know the guitar chords and harmonies back to front. The show closed with Don't Dream It's Over, Lisa supplying the stately Procol Harum-esque organ break. Flaming marvellous.