Don McGlashan and the Others - Blue Smoke - Christchurch - 29 October 2020

 

The Don was hitting the road again, this time to showcase a whole album worth of new songs that were waiting to be recorded. It was a packed house at Blue Smoke as the support act Ryan Fisherman played a rather uninspiring set that sounded muddy and it was practically the last song he played that illicited any interest  from myself or my friends that I was with.

 Don hit the stage and announced that he and his band, with the impressive Shayne Carter on guitar, were going to play us 13 brand new songs that are most likely going to be on his next album. I was initially disappointed a little with this as myself and I am sure many others there would have liked to hear some of his older songs from his fantastic back catalog. Still, with these new songs, Don proved again what a great songwriter he is with his set showing us a glimpse of what looks like being yet another great McGlashan record.. After the 13 songs, the band then gave us a little bit of that excellent back catalog which really got the audience going wild, especially with the excellent version of "....Marsha....": Which I videoed and is posted below.. So in the end it was yet another excellent Don McGashan gig and I am looking forward to the next album.

Don McGlashan - Rangiora Town Hall - 18 October 2018

Don McGlashan, 40 years of producing fabulous New Zealand music and still touring the country from end to end. The  Free Flight Tour is taking in a lot of smaller centers as well as a couple of the main cities up north. This time I got to see him at the Rangiora Town Hall, a much shorter drive than most of my concerts I attend.

 A seated concert in the old theater part of the town hall complex, the place was almost full, with most of the punters being of a similar age as the man in question himself, the wife and I were feeling quite young.

 Don had Anthonie Tonnon as his support act, a name that was familiar but his music was unknown to me. He preformed solo using an electronic keyboard to provide beats and other sounds as well as playing guitar and singing. His music was is a little hard for me to describe but although he was a reasonable singer, his music did not really connect with me or the wife for that matter, so we were both pleased when he finished. He did go down fairly well with plenty of others in the audience.

 Don strode onstage after the drinks break waved to the crowd and asked how we were doing before picking up his guitar and giving us a couple of his solo songs from his last couple of records, one I recognized, one I didn't but it set the tone for what was shaping up to be an excellent night. With just an acoustic guitar and some wonderful songs and his awesome voice, Don was magic right from the go as he, after bringing out a drummer to add a bit of weight to the songs, took us through a sample of his entire catalog, from the fantastic "Don't Fight It Marsha, It's Bigger Than Both Of Us" from his early Blam Blam Blam days, a good number of Front Lawn songs, a Muttonbird song or two and even a new one that may have not yet been recorded. Anyhow, It was wall to wall excellence and I knew almost all the songs he played and many of them are classics. New Zealands best songwriter IMO. A fabulous night and an hour and a half of listening to him sing was just not enough.

Don McGlashan & Shayne Carter - Aurora Center - Christchurch 20 October 2016

Two of the Godfathers of New Zealand Indie rock/pop have teamed up for some live gigs around New Zealand in October 2016 and because I admire McGlashan so much I really needed to attend this, as I missed him last time he played here.

 Don has been in several legendary New Zealand bands over the last 35+ years, including  BlamBlamBlam, The Front lawn and The Muttonbirds, as well as putting out solo stuff as of late. I think his song writing is second to none in NZ and he is a most versatile musician and a great singer.

 Shayne, likewise is very well known in post-punk indie circles, also fronting several near legendary NZ bands such as, Bored Games, Double Happys, Straightjacket Fits and Dimmer, he also releases solo music of late.

 The Aurora center is a great venue at Burnside High School with a capacity of about 700 punters, the place was almost 3/4 full and surprisingly we were feeling reasonably young, looking at all the gray hairs milling about in the foyer before the gig.

 The lads hit the stage about 8pm, just the two of them and went straight into the first song, with Don on amplified acoustic guitar and Shayne on electric guitar. I think, from memory the first track was a McGlashen song and as Don explained they would alternately be playing Don's songs and Shayne's songs. He also explained later in the show that they picked the songs from each others catalogue, i.e.Don picked all the Shayne songs and Shayne picked all the Don songs. Of course I knew a fair number of Don's songs that they played even though it was far from a "greatest hits" show, where as I was not so familiar with Shayne's songs and indeed it appears Don picked several of Shayne's more experimental songs which made for some really interesting pieces. Don played drums on a couple of songs and also some sort of Trombone thing  where he played a bit and then put what he played into a repeating loop on a couple of numbers. The whole thing was very informal and laid back with plenty of banter from Shayne and some really great music, they played for a little over 2 hours and I was just so impressed, thinking what a couple of great old hands entertaining with so much fantastic music. Overall an awesome gig. If they are playing near you go and see them.

I didn't do any videos at this gig but below is one of the songs that they played recorded live in the studio for a CD they are releasing of the music they played us this night. 

  

Don McGlashan - Warm Hand (New Zealand 2006)

Uncle Roddus Album Of The Day

Well, tonight I should have been enjoying Don playing a live solo gig, but I didn't get my tickets in time and it was sold out, so here I am writing my review of his first solo album after disbanding The Mutton Birds back in 02'. This is just classic Don doing what Don does best, weaving intricate stories within well crafted pop songs. I was pleasently surprised as to how good this set really is. At this stage of his career, and the fact that he's gone solo usually means a drop in quality for a lot of artists and although there don't appear to be any standout classics like before, overall this set is strong and remains so, throughout. Rating 4/5.