#ivan karczewski

The opening act is well worthy of mention first, though to call them an opening act seems almost reductive, as they mingled and collaborated with the headliners throughout the night. Hamilton’s country-folk-rockers Looking For Alaska achieved a connection with and response from the audience rarely done by support acts. Their music initially came off as fairly standard sugary country-flavoured folk pop, though elevated by some nice electric guitar playing from guitarist/vocalist Aaron Gott and incredibly strong and on-point vocals from frontwoman Amy Maynard.

Their connection with the headliners was shown when Albi & The Wolves frontman Chris Dent joined them on stage for a song they had written together. This was followed by an emotional performance of Kyle’s Song, from the group’s 2016 self-titled debut album. Maynard explained she had written the song about the tragic death of her young cousin, and dedicated it to her family in attendance that night, at their “coolest” gig to date. The vocalist gave the song her all (which was a lot), and finished to the biggest round of applause and shouts of approval of the night, the half-full venue showing their voices earlier than they had expected to. Next track You Only See Me When You’re Sleeping was another great piece, after which they finished with an energetic cover of Mel Parsons’ Get Out Alive, a song the original artist had played at the same venue less than two weeks earlier. Rarely do a support act receive such vocal protests at leaving the stage.

Albi & The Wolves followed shortly, the guitar-violin-upright bass trio opening gently with Story and Try, two beautiful lilting folk songs, before setting the energy to “barn dance” with the title track from last year’s debut album One Eye Open. Their music is simple and rooted in folk-festival presets enough to seem familiar even to those seeing them for the first time, heavy in vocal harmonies just rough enough to stop short of sugary. They were joined after five songs by the drummer William from Looking For Alaska, who filled out the sound nicely.

Of course it is that crowd-pleasing violin, an instrument instantly evocative of folk community and tradition, that ups the group’s appeal. Pascal Roggen’s five-string electric, played with stunning virtuosity and expression, never lost its immediate charm throughout the entirety of the set. If that wasn’t enough, the physicality with which Roggen threw himself into the playing of his instrument was entertaining in its own right.

The dreamy Fall With You was a nice break in between endless hoe-down Americana cuts like Workin’ Hard, It Ain’t Easy, This Is War and a cover of The Black Keys’ Lonely Boy. The space infront of the stage that had been empty for the first half of the night was soon filled with dancers, revelling in the direct hooks and breakneck rhythms. I certainly preferred their more traditional-leaning compositions to their more contemporary folk-pop pieces (I Will Not Be Broken came a little too close to a Mumford & Sons pastiche for my liking), but the crowd lapped up every note they played, right up to the encore when the group invited most of the members of Looking For Alaska back to the stage for a jubilant cover of The Doobie Brothers’ Long Train Running.

Albi & The Wolves left their audience buzzing with the communal energy that comes with basic and direct folk music played well. I was expecting towards the start of the night to write something involving the word “cliche”, but any last notion of that had dissipated by the end of the set – not because it’s not true, but because it’s not relevant. This is comfort music, steeped in tradition and familiar sonic presets, but still alive, vibrant and satisfying in the moment.

Ruben Mita.

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  Looking For Alaska setlist –

  Lullaby

In The End

Take Me With You

I’d Go Anywhere (with Chris Dent)

Kyle’s Song

You Only See Me When You’re Sleeping

Get Out Alive (Mel Parsons cover)

  Albi & The Wolves setlist –

  Story

Try

One Eye Open

I’m Not Free

Something In The Way

Workin’ Hard

Fall With You

Wayfaring Stranger

It Ain’t Easy

This Is War

Lonely Boy (The Black Keys cover)

I Will Not Be Broken

Settle Down

Home

  encore:

Long Train Running (The Doobie Brothers cover, with Looking For Alaska)

Failing, for better or worse, to live up to either entertaining possibility installed in their name, the American self-proclaimed “greatest rock’n’roll band in the world” took a safe middle route with a borderline parodical set of solid fast-paced classic southern rock. And yes, the above quote is how they introduced themselves to the half-full King’s Arms on a Thursday night. But before going any further, I want to talk about the opening acts.

Walking into the venue, I was struck immediately with the strong and specific feeling of having walked into a scene from Dig!, the documentary on The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Auckland eight-piece Magic Factory were commanding every inch of the stage, most of it with bodies, sustaining steady garage-psych grooves while a wide-eyed tambourine player crouched unsteadily on the lip of the stage, drunkenly staring down the audience while shouting along to the lyrics. It was uncanny. The group’s music blended Brian Jonestown-esque psych with classic rock and blues tropes, both musically and lyrically, but their memorable stage presence made them the most entertaining act of the night, one I would have happily watched for longer, even if only to watch the tambourine player perform stage-jump after stage-jump onto a mostly empty floor.

Next up was another Auckland group, The Solomon Cole Band. They took a different approach to the obvious classic-rock theme of the night, backing the otherwise predictable screaming guitar solos with danceable post-punk beats. The result was entertaining, though the emphasis on blues-rock guitar virtuosity seemed out of place over much of the music, and they were sadly plagued by a muddy mix and crackling amplifiers. To their credit, this didn’t negatively affect their performance too much.

Supersuckers took to the stage shortly before 10:30, wasting no time in launching into their fast-paced brand of dirt-road rock. The headlining three-piece played together with effortless solidity, something the opening acts were missing. After all, they’ve had the practice – the first incarnation of the group formed in 1988, though lead singer and bassist Eddie Spaghetti is the only original member remaining. As the vocalist told the crowd, with just a hint of bitterness, “we’ve been doing this for a fucking long time, and this is all we get”, referring to the size of the venue and the number of people. But he made sure to thank everybody for coming along, calling them “people of impeccable taste”.

The kind of one-sided rock-or-nothing attitude implied by that comment was evident in their music as well, for better or worse. The group played with stubborn dedication to their well-established sound, so much so that their refusal to deviate from the same old building blocks of their Motorhead-channeling rock’n’roll (growled indecipherable vocals, breakneck drumbeats, distorted bluesy guitars and endless shredding) was their weakness.

However, within the parameters of that specific sound, they played the part to perfection, a part well recognised and well rehearsed. Each song was recognisable by its musical classic-rock references, cutting chord progressions and riffs out of a lineage of similarly stylised groups, climaxing with the inevitable front-of-the-stage shredding from guitarist “Metal” Marty Chandler, and finishing with the rehearsed guitar-in-the-air pose. If they’re a parody they’re unbelievable actors. If not, they’re a solid band at least.

For people who had bought tickets for such a specific style of music, I expected the crowd to be more enthusiastic than they were. While a few dancing gig-goers buzzed with energy down the front, the majority hung back statically, only hesitantly acknowledging the guitarist’s gestures to come forward.

Supersuckers are openly and proudly a one-trick pony, so of course the enjoyment of their live set rests very much on your stomach for classic bar-rock, but for those who came to see just that, I can’t think of a band more devoted to their sound and complete performance package. Their stylistic boundaries are self-imposed, and within them they delivered absolutely. It’s nothing new and it’s nothing special, but it’s rock’n’roll.

Ruben Mita.

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13th Floor photographer Ivan Karczewski was there and has sent through these pix, including opening act Raw Collective.

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A week after an appearance in his hometown of Wellington, Lord Echo (also known as Mike Fabulous) made a stop at Avondale’s iconic Hollywood Cinema which has been host for other musical events such as Aldous Harding and Nadia Reid. Although this being his first headlining show in Auckland for the year, I had been lucky enough to catch Lord Echo play a special set at this years WOMAD festival in New Plymouth which was very well received despite being the last act to play for the weekend and to such an exhausted audience.

Lord Echo’s music could be described as being on the edge of house music with a twist of world sounds such as reggae, Latin music, disco and African soul, perfect for a festival like WOMAD but would it be right for a venue like the Hollywood?

The night started off with fellow Wellington based band The All Seeing Hand kicking off the night. I have always been eager to witness them live but unfortunately have always missed my chance but luckily tonight was my night. The band were backed by fantastic display of live visuals (put together by Erika Sklenars) to accompany their experimental sound which strongly reminded me of bands like Death Grips and Clipping. They played a forty minute set to a crowd of middle age punters who were dancing awkwardly to their interesting tunes but nevertheless I absolutely loved it, the sound was fantastic and performance was something I’ve never quite seen before.

Lord Echo took to the stage around ten o’clock to a packed out room of highly intoxicated adults and university students taking a break from study, a rather mixed demographic. Accompanied by his five piece band made up of well-dressed session members Lisa Tomlins, Mara TK, Lucien Johnson, Daniel Hayles and Izak Chads, we were ready to boogie.

The set started off sloppy, the mixing was off, the bass was too loud, the horns and vocals were quiet and the bongos could not even be heard! I myself was disappointed and not pleased with this mess. At such an early start, the audience seemed to be 50/50 about the performance, people were either dancing or rudely talking over the band, showing complete disrespect and spilling their drinks everywhere, including on me.

After a scruffy start to the show, things started to pick up some momentum. The conversations drew to a close and people seemed invested in what they were watching and the sound was on point, I myself could finally dance and enjoy the show. Lord Echo presented his worldy tunes to the fullest which contained a hint of a Kiwiana sound, but sadly some songs were not impressive. Ultimately the tunes blended into one another and everything began to sound the same and feature a similar structure from one another.

A highlight of the show was the moment when the backing band each got their own chance to steal the limelight and show off their musical abilities, they are all talented and great performers to say the least.

After a very exciting encore, the set drew to a close. Lord Echo is a great musician and his show was electrifying but Hollywood Cinema did not reflect truly on this. Lord Echo has the type of music you would like to watch outdoors on a nice summers day at a festival on the grass, not in doors in an old musty cinema. Maybe for now he should stick to festival slots instead. As for The All Seeing Hand, they completely stole the spotlight with their phenomenal set in my opinion, they are one band I’m definitely going to be catching on their upcoming tour.

Jonathan Strock

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Promoting his current long player, Neckbone Stew, Wilson has a clear affection for The Land of the Long White Cloud having played here many times and even putting it to record with his song New Zealand-Aotearoa on his 2015 album Time. Touring with a full band on this occasion, comprising of Cesare Nolli on lead guitar, Nelson based Steve ‘Gilles’ Gilberg on guitars and Paolo Legramandi on bass, with Wilson picking up the sticks with drums and percussion.

Arriving at the venue, the audience to this event was a complete contrast to the one happening next door at the Spark Arena, a youthful crowd seeing Drake’s second night show. It was a far lower key gathering inside the intimate Tuning Fork, with the audience seated and tabled with the occasional bar snacks being delivered. A varied bunch in the crowd, being more on the elder side, some having a family night out, it felt like just the right mix for an evening of live music.

Big Daddy and his band walked on stage right on time at 8.30pm to warm welcome. Wilson, dressed in a black suit, black hat, shades with a red tie looked sharp as a knife. His band members, Cesare and Paolo also looking dapper in their own hats. They all took their seats and kicked into their set with Wilson asking the crowd, “you ready for some blues?” to which they all replied, “Yes!”

The band, effortlessly tight and clearly love playing together, ran through a varied bunch of Wilson’s back catalogue. Songs like Time and the cheeky sounding Thumb A Ride, which Wilson warmed up the crowd with a clap-along. In-between songs Big Daddy would share short tales with hints of comedy, adding to the intimacy of the night. Introducing Rail Road Work Song with, “every bluesman’s got a railroad song”, with the band providing some great three-part gospel harmonies.

A dedication to his friends back home in the States affected by flooding saw him play Hurricane off his 2006 album Walk A Mile In My Shoes. Recalling a tale about observing a, “fine looking woman” of larger proportions on a dancefloor, had the crowd laughing before launching into the 12 bar Texas Boogie which involved a singalong from the responsive crowd singing, “shake it big momma”. He then played Anna Mae, a love song written for his wife to, “keep me out of the dog house”, Wilson displays a natural talent for engaging with the crowd. He wrapped up the first hour long set with Bullfrog off the 2015 long player Time.

A fifteen-minute interval brought them back on stage, looking comfortable and relaxed. Running through early career Freight Train with Wilson on shakers and Gilles on Resonator lap guitar and 7 Years off his new album.

The band are very impressive players with some fantastic licks from lead guitarist, “Big C”, who effortlessly soloed his way through the night with Wilson each time shouting, “Smokestack!” to rapturous applause. My Day Will Come was a long, locked-in jam, super tight. Then closing the set with a showcase of just how talented these players are by running through Country Boy, intersecting various classics into the jam with the lead guitarist and bass player taking turns picking up the lead vocals…songs like The Temptations’ My Girl, Otis Redding’s Dock of the Bay and Ben E King’s Stand By Me.

They ended the night with a real gem of a cover, Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, with Gilles’ beautifully picked acoustic guitar giving my ears plenty to be thankful for.

A great gig by some very talented musicians, I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for their return.

Matt Lord

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Moa is touring her 2007 platinum selling album In Swings The Tide, her third and most successful album. This tour is a massive achievement for Moa after she nearly lost her hearing in August when her left eardrum burst and got infected.

The old tavern was full to the brim of loyal fans. You could tell the audience had been with Moa right through her career and were looking forward to hearing those old songs again. Moa even said how weird it was playing those songs after so long, so I am sure the crowd appreciated it.

Mulholland kicked the night off with a solid set of Crowded House-esque rock. This is the band of Anika’s guitarist Jol Mulholland and they did a good job of setting the scene as the crowd gradually built for the main event.

While the appetiser was nice, it was Anika that everyone was looking forward to. Moa took to the stage with her very tight three-piece band. Jol Mulholland on guitar, Tom Broome on drums, and Anika’s long-time bassist of over ten years Chip Matthews.

This show was predominantly about celebrating the album In Swings The Tide, so Moa kicked things off by playing the album in full, something that is in vogue at the moment with Bic Runga about to do the same thing with her album Drive. All of the fan favourites were on show including hit single Dreams in My Head, Wise Man Say, and title track In Swings The Tide. Moa even dedicated a song to the former owner of the Kings Arms Maureen Gordon who passed away last week.

Moa was in fine voice musically, but also in terms of her engagement with the audience. She talked throughout, cracked jokes, and the crowd loved every word. She even managed to fit in a couple of mentions of New Zealand’s new Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, much to the crowd’s delight. Her stage presence and personality are a strong feature of her performance and this was on show throughout the night.

One thing is for sure, an Anika Moa concert is never boring, and with her vivacious nature, you never got the impression that this was just another gig for her. Moa was having so much fun and for one song she even got friends in the audience to join her on stage and provide backing vocals.

Moa was also in a storytelling mood, explaining what songs meant to the crowd at every opportunity. This included introducing the first song she ever wrote aged four, and a very personal story about My Old Man, a song about her father. Moa explained how she wrote this song before her father died and recounted the story of the first time she played it to him. These were deeply personal stories, but Moa brought them to life in a funny and mostly non-serious way.

The show finished with a mixture of hits including Running Through the Fire (Storm) which closed the show, as well as some new songs. Whether these new songs are an indication of a new album, we will have to wait and see, but in the meantime, one thing is definite, and that is Anika Moa is back playing music, playing it well, and enjoying it as much as she ever has done before.

Sam Smith

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Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a San Francisco punk supergroup comprised of punk legends Fat Mike (NOFX), Chris Shiflett (No Use For a Name), Joey Cape (Lagwagon), Dave Ruan (also of Lagwagon) and ably fronted by Spike Slawson (Swingin’ Utters), all members of bands signed to Fat Mike’s label ‘Fat Wreck Chords’, who, surprisingly enough, only perform covers.

Unfortunately, due to Fat Mike and and Chris Shiflett’s busy schedules, they were unable to appear at last night’s show but luckily Jay Bentley of Bad Religion was able to assume bass duties while Lindsay Mcdougall of Australian band Frenzal Rhomb covered for Chris on the guitar.

This was the band’s last show on the ‘Rake It In: Greatest Hits’ tour, which was also in order to promote the new greatest hits album.

Although I knew of the band members, I was not aware of the band itself till I saw the New Zealand tour announcement. I was then surprised to learn that the show had sold out quickly and then thankfully for those of us late off the mark, was upgraded from Kings Arms to Powerstation to meet the increased demand, and these extra tickets also quickly sold out too! I was interested to check out the hype surrounding this band who surprisingly had not released any original material.

I arrived to a packed out Powerstation still feeling drained from Die!Die!Die!’s excellent show the night before at the Whammy bar and as I entered the Powerstation, I was rudely greeted by loud, obnoxious and incredibly intoxicated gig goers who, throughout the show, were chucking cups, bottles and cans across the venue, showing complete disrespect for the venue and the punters caught up in the crossfire!

The venue was packed with middle age groovers, majority of whom were wearing NOFX shirts.

I was able to catch the end of Nuggiez set which consisted of heavy, high volume, punk which was enough to keep the impatient Me First fans occupied.

During the Me First stage set up, I had a brief conversation with two fans who told me they had been following the band for fifteen years. They were kind enough to give me a full run down on the band and any information that I could deem useful. “If you a fan of punk, you’re in heaven right now” one told me. Chatting with these two fans was a nice change from the rather sour greeting I got earlier upon entering.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes took to the stage exactly at 9:00 as was promised. All wearing matching black pants and shirts with a gold tie uniform as well as same guitar bodies, except for Spike who had an extra gold blazer on show.

Opening up with George Gershwin’s Summertime which would be the first of many covers, the mosh pit was instantly in full force. The crowd was yelling the words out and the floor was rumbling. Spike was strutting across with stage with extreme swagger and the middle age performers proved they were still as punk as ever! Each member was incredibly enthusiastic and loving the performance despite this being the last show of a long tour.

Between songs, Spike would converse with the audience, telling them stories and asking questions as well as sharing their sense of humour and foul language.

Mid set, Spike performed a ukulele rendition of Madonna’s Crazy For You, during which encouraged loud sing along.

One aspect of the performance that I was not a massive fan of are the band introductions. Although they were well thought up and crazy, they were almost a bit too long and at times quite contrived. We are here to hear music, not chit chat and try hard dialogue!

During this, Australian guitarist Lindsay voiced his respect for New Zealand’s impressive rugby efforts and our marriage equality law, both things Australia is trying to match!

The band’s covers of Elton John’s Rocket Man and Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive (which the band asked the macho men of the crowd to release their inner diva for) were my personal highlights of the night.

Me First really did prove me wrong when I pondered how on earth a band could have such a big following and career playing only covers. The show was wild, fun and possibly one of the best I’ve been to all year and I have been lucky to see some incredible shows in 2017. Despite being a Sunday night, the crowd proved they were still ready to go crazy with Me First, even on a school night!

By the time Me First left the stage, I really did feel lucky to have witnessed this show and what a pleasant surprise this turned out to be. Come back soon guys

Jonathan Strock

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Glenn Bodger from Braintree delivered an acoustic support set as the punters flocked into the small, bulging venue, which boasts an amazingly clear sound; made even more impressive and consistent by the roaming sound guy, who constantly adjusted levels throughout the gig on his tablet.

Like a big, booming toot on a spanking-new tugboat, the considerable brass section [including members of Hopetoun Brown] begins the start of the New Telepathics set, taking to the stage and more [the vocal contingent of the telepathic research agents are on the floor, completely face-to-face with the front row] with an exciting kapow of brings-an-instant-smile-to-your-face Afrikana.

The party vibe continues throughout the set, with 6 of the 8 songs taken from the upcoming album.   Vocal sparrings from singers Nuel Nonso, Phodiso and Sandy Mill envelope the excited crowd who, despite not knowing most of the tracks, dance like they were listening to their favourite feelgood playlist.

New single Goat Magic made an early appearance, with ring-master and original New Telepathic Darryn Paterson-Harkness standing stage left and clearly reaping the rewards of his efforts. He took the lead vocal duties on old song My First Shotgun, which ups the guitars to a beat-poet melody, before it’s back into the afro-jazz brass-supersonics until the come-to-soons closer, Siamese Skull.

As the band left the stage with friends and fans still queuing round the corner, I still had that smile on my face and thought that this single, this album, this band, could well be the soundtrack to my summer.

Simon Todd

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New Telepathics played:

Never Know

Central Station

Goat Magic

My First Shotgun

Monochrome

Up All Night

We Are Free Intergalactic

Siamese Skull