I got an introduction to Tami Neilson via a mate with her Dynamite album which I had a few listens too and although impressed, didn't feel the need to go out and buy the record itself. Soon after I caught a new song on the TV from her new album, "Don't be Afraid" and was blown away by the vocal Tour de Force on that song. I missed her previous live show here from her church tour late last year so was real keen to head along to see her preforming songs from this new album( which is a real killer).
With all the exposure Tami has been getting lately, I was surprised she was playing at such a small venue, but it actually wasn't quite as full as it could have been and it is nice to see the gig up close and intimate.
The Mrs. and myself headed over to Lyttelton with a couple of friends and had a lovely Indian curry just across the road from the venue before some drinks at the Wunderbar's Bar, overlooking the Harbour and all the lights. The doors to the concert room were opened just past 9pm and the support act was soon on the stage doing their thing. A three piece of stand up acoustic bass, electric guitar and a female vocalist who also played fiddle, they were a bit different and hard to describe but really underwhelmed me and the singer was a bit shy and didn't really know how to use her mic properly. The sound mixing/quality wasn't all that impressive either and so I was a bit worried about what Tami was going to sound like also in this small venue. The support act(and I'm damned if I can remember their long winded name), played about 30 minutes.
After the obligatory break between acts, Tami appears on stage and they took me a bit by surprise by opening the show with the "Don't Be Afraid" song(see vid below), which I feel is her strongest number. Still, it was very impressive and the sound was excellent. They followed that up with the next two tracks from the latest album, "Holy Moses" and "Lonely" and I thought she was gonna do the whole album in sequence, but then we skipped to a song from the other side of the record before going back to some material from her "Dynamite" album. Tami does a real mix if styles, with some slow mournful country ballads, to swamp blues and rockabilly and others harder to pin down. it was a great show, she has such a powerful voice and might be one of the best singers I have see live, just so impressed. Great show, great venue, great night.
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