Crowded House performs at Fox Theater in Oakland on May 6, 2023. Karen Goldman/STAFF.

OAKLAND —”We’ve really diverged tonight!”vocalist Neil Finn told the audience about two-thirds of the way through the Crowded House set at the Fox Theater on Saturday night.

As the show had opened with the circus-like ambience of Ennio Morricone’s “Orgia da Malena” piped in as intro music, and featured a number of musical tangents — including a few convincing bars of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon,” and later in the set, the theme from the weirdo kids cartoon “Clutch Cargo” — Finn’s words were a bit of an understatement.

Even better, it was a family affair, with Finn being joined by his sons Liam and Elroy, along with founding bassist Nick Seymour and touring keyboardist Mitchell Froom, who’d produced a number of the band’s hits but declined to join the band in the 1980s when Finn offered him the spot.

The more than two-hour-long set had it all: guitar pyrotechnics from Liam, smoldering jams, delicate acoustic guitar lines, a bunch of hits and impressive vocal harmonies from the seated and sold-out crowd. Lively stage banter peppered the performance with long digressions about psychedelic belly button lint (which the band joked is already being microdosed by the venture capitalists of Silicon Valley) and a mysterious mint that was thrown onstage later in the set.

Crowded House performs at Fox Theater in Oakland on May 6, 2023.

Songs from the New Zealand/Australia band’s 1986 self-titled debut got the biggest reactions from the crowd, including, “The World Where You Live,” “Mean to Me” and “Something So Strong.” When Crowded House eased into its biggest hit, “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” toward the end, the lack of fanfare caught some off guard. But it was precisely the unexpected and ultra-musical moments that made the performance special.

Finn and company played the haunting “Hole in the River” live for the first time since 2016 with Neil Finn reacquainting himself with the song’s piano bit in real time. The band’s rapid transitions between haunting harmonies and raucous musical jams, often within the same song, made the music feel unpredictable, and that band’s consummate musicianship gave the distinct impression the members were enjoying the ride as much as the audience.

“To the Island,” off the band’s latest album, 2021’s Dreamers Are Waiting, managed to sound simultaneously sinister and jaunty as a growling guitar or synth accompanied the verses before Liam and his father Neil traded blues licks on electric guitars that then dropped out for a powerful a capella harmony.

Liam Finn performs at Fox Theater in Oakland on May 6, 2023.

Neil played a piano during ballad “Message to My Girl,” a hit he scored with his earlier band, Split Enz. Liam sang lead on “Goodnight Everyone,” from the band’s latest.

“Funny the way songs kinda pop into your head,” Neil Finn told the audience after “Pineapple Head” (from the band’s 1993 album, Together Alone, morphed into “Rocky Raccoon.”

It was “Sister Madly,” off 1988’s Temple of Low Men, that wandered musically into becoming Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” with Liam providing Robert Plant’s signature shrieks.

The marathon set ended with a pair of huge hits from Crowded House’s debut, “Mean to Me” and “Something So Strong” before the band left the stage momentarily. They returned with a four-song encore that included “Weather With You,” from 1991 album Woodface, and “Better Be Home Soon” off Temple of Low Men, which had the crowd enthusiastically singing along much to Neil Finn’s obvious delight.

The concert began with an opening set by Liam Finn in a sort of one-man-band performance that included an improvised instrumental performance titled “Oakland, Aukland” and “Snug as Fuck,” from his 2014 record, The Nilhist.

Follow writer David Gill at Twitter.com/saxum_paternus. Follow photographer Karen Goldman at Twitter.com/Xposure120 and Instagram.com/karenshootsmusic.