When it’s discovered an actor has a musical side project they work on, there is a sudden sense of fear and loathing as images of Russell Crowe and his band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts result in extreme mental anguish. Thankfully, Toni Collette shows how incredibly multi-talented she really is as the frontwoman of adult contemporary troup The Finish, performing alongside proud husband Dave Galafissi (drums).

The mostly 30-plus crowd made up of couples welcomed The Finish to the stage at the Rosemount Hotel with much love and applause. Collette wore a summer dress emblazed with purple lilac flower prints, which covered her old faithful jeans and the essential clothing of any muso - Chuck Taylor All Stars; bold white with green piping. This was Collette’s first visit to WA since making the successful arthouse film Japanese Story with Broome and the Kimberley as the stunning backdrop. Opening with Johnny’s Lips, Collette swayed and moved to every beat of her backing ensemble - Pete Farley (bass) David Lane (keyboards) and Peter Fenton (guitar), the latter filling in for Glenn Richards, who is busy touring with Augie March. Mosaic Life and Black and Blue were sensualy comforting, like a warm pair of ugg boots on a July, while the slightly up-tempo Tender Hooks had ‘Our Muriel’ proving some extra percussions with a crash cymbal and a symphony drumstick: it’s a like a regular drumstick, but it’s got a white marshmallow stuck to the end. 

Collette had a question for the crowd. “I just wanna know, do they really have nude 10 pin bowling across the road?” she asked, speaking of the Rosemount Bowl’s ‘clothing optional’ nights. When cheered on by some inebriated fans, she politely declined” “I think might have to keep my kit on for this show – perhaps a bit later?” Trouble With Sister could very well have been written for the chick-flick In Her Shoes, in which Collette starred as a domineering older sibling alongside the spunky Cameron Diaz. The song’s slow tempo sparked a few random conversations amongst the crowd, which could be heard quite audibly. More onstage antics came during current single Look Up, which got the crowd clapping and singing in unison as Collette played a toy hand-held xylophone.

The set ended with a gutsy rock cover of T-Rex classic Children of the Revolution, the crowd singing along as Collette headbanged to the rhythm before joining her hubby in smashing the drum skins as the fans roared with approval. Beautiful Awkward Pictures is surely one of the standout tracks on the debut album of the same name - the haunting piano accompaniment combined with Collette’s delicate vocals was a pleasure to listen to – it’s a pity a small group of inconsiderate clowns at the back didn’t feel the same way.

Ever the professional, Collette didn’t make light of the rude mob and closed the set with Cowboy Games, before thanking the crowd for all their support. Juggling a successful acting career is hard enough, let alone committing to front a band and go on a world tour. Skeptics would be very quick to shoot down this collaboration as ‘another shameless self-promotion by a Hollywood actress’. The truth is Collette has many years of training as a singer, since her teens in fact, and has written most of the tracks on the album. It’s great to see this time it’s about the music and not about record sales and image. But the real difference between her and Russell Crowe’s musical efforts is simply this; she’s bloody good.