Hard to say if The Veils could be called a New Zealand band or an English band. Based in London and the brainchild of Finn Andrew, who was England born but spent some of his growing up time in NZ, the original lineup was formed in the UK but later he did go back to NZ and recruit some locals he had known there earlier. This indie pop/rock band has now released 5 albums since 2002 and I had never heard of them until Chris Walker played one of their recent songs on his NZ radio show/podcast and had mentioned their latest album several times over the past several months. I had seen that they were playing two gigs in Christchurch and I thought about going but hadn't really made up my mind until I saw a short conversation between two hiking friends on Facebook, one of whom I knew was a keen music fan and he expressed a great admiration for The Veils and his disappointment that their gig was sold out. I duly informed him that the earlier gig they were to play still had tickets available and I would go if he did. He duly emailed me the next morning informing me he had two tickets to the Thursday night gig and did I want to come to dinner before the concert.
I managed to have a quick listen to their latest album on TIDAL before I left home and was quite impressed with the more experimental aspects of their Indie music. We arrived just after doors opened and it was very pleasant to have someone with me to chat with for a change at these concerts and it made the time go faster while waiting for the music to start. One big surprise was I had failed to notice who was the support act for this gig and I was very pleasantly surprised to see Delaney Davidson's name on the blackboard outside the venue. I had wanted to see him play for a while but had missed his last gigs here
Delany hit the stage around 9pm with his checked shirt and short brimmed hat and his acoustic guitar which was massively distorted through his effects pedals, singing into a mic that also treated his vocals and proceeded to give us an intense blues soaked, rocking show of stunning moanes, loops, bangs on the guitar wood, one man grunge blues show. It was fucking impressive and Bryce, who had no Idea who Delany was was extremely impressed as well. I was ecstatic.
Finn and the band then hit the stage after the interval and straight away I could see here was a powerful and charismatic front man, with his wide brimmed hat, his unshaven face and his hand movements as he sang with gusto the songs that have made them quite popular. The volume was pretty loud for this gig and as usual when all hell was breaking loose, it sounded like a wall of squalling noise, but even though I had almost no familiarity with their music I got a pretty good idea of their quality, I have enjoyed unknown bands in a live setting more than this gig but I still really enjoyed their energy and music. I also think that Bono had a bit of an influence on our man Finn. If I had known their music better I think I would have enjoyed this gig as much as Bryce did and now that I have vinyl copies of their two latest albums, next time will be even better.
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