#leaping tiger

As I make my way into The Tuning Fork, Race Banyon - Eddie Johnston, aka Lontalius - has already started. It's atmospheric, and sets a great tone to start off the night. Although at first I wasn't entirely sure if he had started, or was just dj'ing to fill the in between fame - regardless, it was definitely a preferred soundscape as we made ourselves comfortable.

Taking to the stage next, is Trey Bond, and instantly he's a hit with the young girls dancing in front of me, who squeal anytime he looks even vaguely in their direction. It's evident that Trey hasn't been on stage that much before, as he's a little shy, and quickly moves from one song to the next, with minimal crowd interaction. The talent is definitely there, but he's also a little off time to his backing tracks, leaving the performance a little more flat sounding than it needs to be. As his set draws to a close he finishes with 'R U?' - a track by both himself and David Dallas. It's an impressive performance, but I would have liked to have seen him pull up a guest vocalist to substitute for Dallas' - rather than just leaving them up to the backing track. Also shout out to Shallows for DJ’ing along in the back, watching that boy dance along was one of my highlights of the night!

Next up is Leaping Tiger. He's quick to call the crowd to get up and dance, as he roars through his first few tracks, I can't help but wish that it was a whole lot louder. After his first request fell on deaf ears, he tries again, “This one you gotta boogie too!' he calls out, as he picks up a bass. That's all it takes, as the crunchy bass lines on top of his electronic tracks get the crowd all loose and dancing in no time. Finishing off his set, Pati Apa joins him up on stage to sing - but not before throwing out a shameless plug for her fur jacket. The crowd sing back at her, as she jumps around the stage. "To end it all off, let's give another round of applause for yourself!" Pati calls out, reminding us to all take a moment for a little self love, before they both make their way off stage.

Joining us next, is Jinzo, Humble Boy, and all of their closest 50 mates (okay i’m exaggerating, there was only 10 people on stage). It's incredible watching that many people jam themselves up on the Tuning Fork stage. You can tell they all love being up there though, and their energy and love is contagious - the whole crowd are singing and dancing along in no time. They thank both the crowd, and Church & AP for having them along, and then invite up another friend to join them onstage - honestly I have NO idea how they all fit! But there's phones everywhere trying to capture the madness - hell, even some of the guys up on stage have got their phones out taking selfies and videos of it all! I guess, if you don't gram it, did it really happen?

In between each set, the Katayanagi Twins had been spinning us a few tracks to keep the crowd interested. It was definitely a whole new experience to me watching people DJ - like are they meant to talk that much to each other but not the crowd? I don’t know. This is a whole new genre for me! Though I have got to send mad love out to Rain for having fries delivered to her onstage. That’s the kind of life I want to be living!

I’ve been following Church & AP online for a while now. A certain hum came about when their song ‘Ready or Not’ started playing on the radio and they only seem to of grown rapidly from there.

I started my experience of seeing the boys live in Napier at the Clive Rugby club; the second to last stop on their Communities tour. I was going up to Auckland for Laneway on Monday, arriving Sunday night so what better way to celebrate pre-Laneway than to join them on their final stop of the tour. Every other show seemed to of been a rehearsal building up to this final show. With the amazing support from not only a sold-out crowd but also their friends performing alongside them. Church & AP thrived in the spot light, feeding off the yells of adoration from their audience. The crowd didn’t seize from the minute they hit the stage, screaming almost every lyric back at them and shouting along mumbles of half made up words as they tried to pick up on the new songs that were debut.

The set flows well, no need for breaks or sit downs they just keep at it ‘til it comes to playing their single, ‘Ready or Not’ - that they not only play once but twice with the crowd being just as enthusiastic if not more so the second time. The set didn’t feel ready to be finished but I take that energy just as a sign that these boys aren’t backing down any time soon.

Photos

Trey Bond | Leaping Tiger | Jinzo + Humble Boy | Church & AP