The Big Gig - Christchurch Art Gallery - 19 February 2021

 

Well, It's been a while since I did much of anything that I can report on this blog for the start of 2021. Mainly because I have started the year getting a lot of things repaired that had been on the list of things to do for quite a while, I have also been focussed on getting rid of my mortgage within the next year or so after that plan was derailed last year due to COVID and shit, and finally body issues have kept me from getting out into the hills these last few months( old age is approaching and I'm falling to bits) and I have been avoiding gigs to help save money. But this gig with this great line up tempted me out for a night.

Put on by the City Council and held at the Art Gallery I guess as part of their Summertime's Program, I was familiar with all the bands playing and indeed all four had records residing in my NZ vinyl collection, with the Bats having not long ago released their 10th album.

I arrived about 15 minutes before the first band, secured a drink and sat down in the huge Foyer of the gallery, where the bands were to preform. I spotted a merch table and sauntered over to have a look. T's and badges and shit but there were three LPs by Opposite Sex. Three LP's? "What's this?" I asked Violet, The lady running the table and a musician herself, whom I have seen play several times, Knowing that Opposite Sex had only two LPs up to this point. "This is Opposite Sex's new album that hasn't actually been released yet. It's fantastic and we have copies for sale tonight". 

"Bugger! I'm not supposed to be buying any new records at present with money saving I am supposed to be doing but you better save me a copy. Wow, $30 is a great price".

Ben Woods hits the stage with his band and rattles through his set of several songs from his last record and maybe others, I am still not as familiar with it as I could be. it's a good and enjoyable set and this time he has a Sax player playing which I don't think I have seen from him before, the set was great and I did indeed recognise a couple of tracks and enjoyed the extra dimensions the Sax presented. On their last song they were joined by a young lady named Lucy to help Ben sing the song.

Friend Craig showed up in the interval between bands as he was keen to see Womb, The next act.

Womb is from Wellington and As I said, I have a record and saw Charlotte play a solo set about three years back. She is an ethereal singer and brings a certain intensity to her performances which I had noticed last time and noticed again this time as she fronted a band for this gig. It was also a pretty good set and Craig mentioned the Cocteau Twins vibe to their set..

Between the bands this time Craig cued to get beer and I to get cash which I duly gave to Violet for my copy of the Opposite Sex record.

Then the Bats were on. The Foyer was now packed as the Bats blasted their was through a fantastic set new and older songs as well as a couple of bonified  NZ classics, It was a great set and I enjoyed it more than the last time I had seen them, now being more familiar with a lot of their more recent music and also having tracked down some of their oldest music on vinyl. They really have become a great live act.

Finally, Opposite Sex played last, unfortunately, a fair chunk of the audience left after The Bats set which was a little disappointing for the band as the deserve to be heard by more people, they should have played before the Bats really. This was my first time seeing them live and it turns out that The singer/bassist was the same Lucy that sang briefly with Ben Woods earlier in the night. Anyhow, they were perhaps the most alternative band of the night and the nosiest even though they were the smallest unit of the evening being only a three piece. They were great, the new songs were sounding really impressive(confirmed when I played the new record the next day) and they played all the familiar favourites I knew from their previous records. It was a great set.

The Bats - Space Academy - Christchurch 26th January 2017

The Bats are a longstay of the NZ music scene forming in my hometown of Christchurch in 1982 and releasing their music on the legendary Flying Nun Records. Their quirky pop sound typifies the Flying Nun/Dunedin sound of the early 80's to a tee. I was familiar with some of their very early songs via student radio back in the day but never really owned any of their music and sometimes found their sound to be a bit too lightweight for my tastes. They have been touring and releasing music sporadically for the last 35 years now but I am not familiar with their latest music. 

 This gig was a kinda hometown warmup for a couple of upcoming gigs across the ditch in Australia in support of their new album which was released the following day after this gig. I thought it would be interesting to see them live again, the last time being when they supported the Violent Femmes here in 1992. 

  Space Academy is a small warehouse venue, just across the road from The Darkroom( where I have been seeing a lot of Bands lately), which doubles as a cafe during the day and hosts other arty events also. It was my first visit there.

  The gig was sold out but with modern fire regulations in a small venue like this there was probably less than 100 people there in all and there was certainly room for more.

  I took my place near the front of the audience for the first set as they kicked off about 9pm with a couple of songs from their previous album"Free All The Monsters" from 2011. I was impressed with the sound of the music and although their sound has altered little over time their song construction has matured  and I enjoyed the material even though I was unfamiliar with it. The next bracket of the first set was dedicated to their new album "The Deep Set" and I was even more impressed with the songs they played. Some pretty catchy songs which look like making for a pretty good new record. The sound quality was ok but slightly too loud and distorted to really get a strong feel for the material and unfortunately when they added in a couple of additional musicians on strings for a couple of tracks the sound got a lot more muddled and the strings were pretty hard to hear in the mix.

  A short break was had before they got stuck into their past catalog of songs for the second set. I decided to try standing nearer the back of the room near the mixing desk to see if the sound improved back there but it didn't really and now I couldn't see the band at all as there was no stage, with the band on the floor with us and they are all kinda short. Although I was not familiar with most of what they played in this set, I think they kinda worked their way back through their catalog, finishing the set with ":North By North" From their 1987 album "Daddy's Highway", which was the only song I really knew. Apart from the slight issues with the sound(usual for rock gigs) I really enjoyed their playing and also their music more so than I thought I would. A great little live band.