I really hope this is true. I didn't appreciate what a great live band they are and what an amazing song writer Neil Finn is until their Together Alone album. 
CROWDED HOUSE, one of Australia's biggest musical exports, is re-forming for a world tour.
Former frontman Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour have held auditions in Auckland and Los Angeles and will continue their search for a replacement for founding drummer Paul Hester in Melbourne this week. Hester committed suicide two years ago.
Finn has regularly dismissed notions of re-forming Crowded House. But Hester's tragic death shook that resolve.
Sources say Finn will commit 12 months to a world tour by Crowded House.
Finn's British-based management group will make an announcement this week.
The reunion comes 10 years after the band's emotional farewell performance on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
Last year, Finn toured with his former band Split Enz. In March, he will release a solo album and, later, tour with Crowded House.
Seymour played bass on Finn's forthcoming solo album.
"In the shadow of Paul's passing, we had more than enough reason to seek each other out and take a bit of comfort from each other," Finn said last month.
"But we've reconnected musically, too. I've really enjoyed him playing bass. There's something instinctive that we've got together and it's pretty undeniable."
Finn is expected in Melbourne today. But road-testing a new drummer will be a difficult task.
Two years ago, Finn said Hester's talent as a beatkeeper was almost irreplaceable and that he truly appreciated Hester's musical talent after the drummer left Crowded House in 1994.
"I never knew how great Paul was for me, how much he gave me, how incredibly important the chemistry was, until much later, when I was trying to show drummer after drummer how to play the brushes properly on Four Seasons in One Day," Finn said.
"Not one bugger got it. I realised how professional Paul's groove was, how genetically in synch we were.
"It was an accident, but a beautiful one. A fate that drew us all together."
Melbourne-born and bred, the Crowdies conquered the US with the 1987 hit, Don't Dream It's Over. Subsequent hits included Better Be Home Soon, Weather With You and Fall At Your Feet.
Crowded House split in June, 1996, and played the Opera House show five months later.
Finn said the band had achieved success in Britain and the US and he was sick of living on the road.
He has had a successful solo career, occasionally performing with brother Tim as the Finn Brothers.
Seymour runs a recording studio in Dublin and plays bass in a local band, Tarmac Adam.
