Split Enz Deliver Triumphant Forever Enz Return At Rod Laver Arena Melbourne

Split Enz launched their Forever Enz reunion tour at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena with a career-spanning performance featuring Tim Finn, Neil Finn, Eddie Rayner and Noel Crombie, revisiting landmark material from across their catalogue in a tightly staged, visually rich production.

by Paul Cashmere

Split Enz opened their Forever Enz tour at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on May 13, 2026, delivering a comprehensive 22-song set that revisited five decades of material and marked their first Australian performance in around twenty years. The lineup featured founding members Tim Finn, Neil Finn, Eddie Rayner and Noel Crombie, supported by Matt Eccles on drums and James Milne on bass, in a production that blended archival visuals, theatrical staging and a catalogue that remains deeply embedded in Australasian music history.

The Melbourne show functioned as both a reunion and a reaffirmation of Split Enz’s enduring place in popular music. The band came on stage under a golden sheet to the Eddie Raynor instrumental ‘Choral Sea’ and exploded immediately into action with ‘True Colours’ potent ‘Shark Attack’. With ‘True Colours’ as a centrepiece, the ride then went back to their earliest recordings.

The audience response was immediate and sustained, with large sections of Rod Laver Arena singing along throughout the set.

Beyond nostalgia, the performance underscored the structural strength of the Split Enz catalogue. Songs such as ‘History Never Repeats’, ‘One Step Ahead’ and ‘I Got You’ were delivered with clarity and momentum, while deeper cuts like ‘Time For A Change’ and ‘Stuff And Nonsense’ highlighted the group’s earlier experimental phase. The staging reinforced the musical narrative, combining film projections, costume references and stylised lighting that reflected the band’s long association with visual theatre.

A key focus of the night was the interplay between Tim and Neil Finn, whose shared vocal duties continue to define the band’s identity. The way it worked in Split Enz was Tim Finn sang his songs ‘Poor Boy’, while Neil Finn anchored his material including ‘Message To My Girl’. Eddie Rayner’s keyboard work remained central to the arrangements, adding textural depth across both the pop oriented and more avant rock material. Noel Crombie’s role extended beyond percussion, contributing to the band’s visual identity through costume design references and performance art elements that surfaced throughout the show.

The production also incorporated archival footage between set transitions, reinforcing the band’s origins in Auckland in 1972 and their evolution into one of the most distinctive acts to emerge from the region. The audience demographic reflected that longevity, with multiple generations present, many of whom treated the performance as both rediscovery and celebration.

From a performance standpoint, the set maintained a deliberate pacing, balancing high energy tracks like ‘Dirty Creature’ and ‘I See Red’ with more reflective moments such as ‘Message To My Girl’, which stood as one of the emotional centres of the evening. The encore reinforced the band’s historical arc, closing with ‘Spellbound’, ‘I Hope I Never’ and ‘Strait Old Line’, the latter accompanied by Crombie’s signature theatrical percussion work including his Spoon solo.

Split Enz’s Melbourne return also highlighted their influence on the broader Australasian pop and rock landscape. Their shift from early art rock experimentation through to mainstream success in the early 1980s remains a defining trajectory in regional music history. ‘True Colours’ in particular continues to function as a cultural reference point, with ‘I Got You’ serving as both commercial breakthrough and enduring anthem.

The presence of Eddie Rayner and Noel Crombie alongside the Finn brothers reinforced the original creative architecture of the group, distinguishing this reunion from typical legacy tours. Rather than presenting the material as static catalogue, the band reinterpreted it with a focus on performance dynamics and arrangement precision, supported by a contemporary touring rhythm section that integrated seamlessly into the original framework.

While some observers had questioned how the Finn brothers’ vocals would hold up across such a demanding set, the Melbourne performance demonstrated a functional and effective vocal balance, with Tim and Neil alternating leads in a way that preserved the integrity of the original recordings while accommodating the realities of time.

The Forever Enz launch positioned the band as an active ensemble re-engaging with a body of work that continues to resonate across decades and audiences.

Tracklisting
(entrance theme) Choral Sea (From True Colours, 1980)
Shark Attack (From True Colours, 1980)
History Never Repeats (From Corroboree (AKA Waiata), 1981)
Poor Boy (From True Colours, 1980)
Nobody Takes Me Seriously (From True Colours, 1980)
Give It A Whirl (From Frenzy, 1979)
Dirty Creature (From Time And Tide, 1982)
Time For A Change (From Second Thoughts, 1976)
One Step Ahead (From Time And Tide, 1982)
Missing Person (From True Colours, 1980)
Message To My Girl (From Conflicting Emotions, 1983)
Double Happy (From True Colours, 1980)
Stuff And Nonsense (From Frenzy, 1979)
Matinee Idyll (129) (From Second Thoughts, 1976)
My Mistake (From Dizrythmia, 1977)
Hard Act To Follow (From Corroboree (AKA Waiata), 1981)
Pioneer (From Time And Tide, 1982)
Six Months In A Leaky Boat (From Time And Tide, 1982)
I Got You (From True Colours, 1980)
I See Red (From Frenzy, 1979)

Encore:
Spellbound (From Mental Notes, 1975)
I Hope I Never (From True Colours, 1980)
Strait Old Line (From Conflicting Emotions, 1983)

Remaining Tour Dates
14 May 2026, Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
16 May 2026, Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre
18 May 2026, Sydney, TikTok Entertainment Centre
19 May 2026, Sydney, TikTok Entertainment Centre
22 May 2026, Perth, RAC Arena
25 May 2026, Adelaide, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Tickets from Live Nation

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Tagged as: Eddie Rayner, Forever Enz, live review, Melbourne concerts, Neil Finn, Noel Crombie, Split Enz, Tim Finn