Browse 74108 Reviews & Comments (Page 608)

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 Darren Fry So... after an early brunch on the morning of the 28th round here with a bunch of Umm members, the seven of us (Toria, Kylie, Helena, Ali & Simon plus Shan & me) got to Auckland's Western Springs stadium as the gates opened at 11am. Not surprisingly Emma & Hayley were pretty much the first in the queue. We also met up with Julia & Jamie, plus Jack & Rose Harrar once inside. I had been chatting with Helena about a month ago, about the fact that it was exactly a year ago this week that Tabac had its week of kiwi music, featuring Neil Finn (solo for the first time), Dave Dobbyn, Greg Johnson, The Exponents and more. Le decided there needed to be some sort of all encompassing one year anniversary show, featuring all the artists just mentioned. And lo... The bill for the day was a who's who of NZ music, all rallying around for the sound crew and backstage workers who didn't get paid when the recent Sweetwaters festival went into liquidation. The day started with a slinky set from Greg Johnson and his band, including Pearl Runga on backing vocals. Greg's next single "Girl I knew" sounds like it should be a hit. The audience gave an understanding "Ohhhhhh" when Greg explained it was about a girl whe used to live with him, but ended up marrying his best friend. Then came Wellington band Breathe, which coincided with the first wave of crowd surfing for their awesome song "How Long". The rain started coming down, and flowing off the awning over the stage right onto us in the first few rows. Didn't dampen the enthusiasm though. And it soon abated. Stellar, following Breathe, also had the crowd moving and bopping along to Boh Runga's vocals & electronica / band backing. By this stage this old fogey had moved back a little to avoid having some teenagers foot in the back of the head. But hell, they were having fun, and getting out of the way didn't bother me in the least- we ended up moving 2m from the stage to 5 or 6 metres. No big deal, and the vocals were much clearer from our new position. Che Fu kept the vibe happening with his eight piece band "Token Village", and hit after hit from his recent 2b S.pacific album, interspersed with some impressive freestyle rapping. Dave came on at 3pm, between Che Fu and the Exponents, for a short sharp set. Having told all around me from the Umm list (Shan, Ali, Simon, Julia & Helena & Mr & Mrs Harrar) that he'd open with Language, the old bugger lets rip with Blindman's Bend! Language was second. The crowd jumped about and sang along, which was heartening considering the average age was about 16. In the same vein as Language, Waiting and Hands kept the tempo up. I thought Dave was going to continue in the up-beat fashion he had started for the whole set, which would have well pleased the crowd. Though, Katie, your mum & dad moved up closer to the front with Julia, Helena and Jamie. After her bungy jump in Queenstown, she was seriously considering trying crowd surfing, but thankfully Jack talked her out of it. She tried yelling out for Bliss, but sadly she couldn't be heard from her position. The band left the stage and Dave sat at the keyboard for a fantastic version of Guilty Thru Neglect. The band came back and joined Dave on Hallelujah Song. Ian Morris's fat guitar tone was a dead ringer for Jeff Beck's on his cover of Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready". The gospel ending of the song had the crowd clapping along feverishly. Dave was given the nod from side stage "Two songs left". I was expecting Whaling, Loyal or Slice of Heaven. Thankfully he didn't play the latter, and instead slowed things up with "Beside You", ending the set on the undoubted highlight- Loyal, with Greg Johnson playing some awesome trumpet throughout. And as is the long standing tradition, the band failed to play Be Set Free. Later on in the next band's set (The Exponents), Dave came back out to play guitar on "Erotic". Greg Johnson also guested on trumpet. Dave stayed to play guitar on "Like She Said" too. The Exponents were by far and away the highlight of the day for me, which surprised me no end. Just that morning I had been commenting on how tired the band had sounded tyhe last few times I'd seen them. The biggest surprise of the evening was the unbelievable response the ol' Exponents got. Before the gig I'd been commenting on how tired that band sound these days. But My God! They absolutely rocked, and played hit after hit. The crowd surged and lept and surfed and sang. Greg Johnson & Dave Dobbyn came out & added trumped and some great lead guitar to "Erotic". Dobbyn stayed for "Like She Said" too. It was Dave Gent's last gig with the Exponents too. Man, did he go out with style. And this punter was most impressed with Jordan's new direction- short hair and not a nipple in sight. After the Exponents Semisonic played to an audience who just did not stop. I was most impressed with the band and will be seeking out Feeling Strangely Fine soon. Seeing they're from Minneapolis they played an old Prince song (Take me with U), before saying they always play the next song in their concerts so today shouldn't be any different for us. However, Dan Wilson explained things would be a bit different for the band, as the writer of the song was going to join them for it, and they were pretty nervous. So out strolled Neil Finn, and they belted through I Got You, the audience leaping all over the show during the chorus, and singing at the top of their lungs. They rounded their amazing set off with Closing Time. This was the first time I had ever witnessed a drummer who also plays keyboards (with his right hand) at the same time as keeping the beat on the drums with his other limbs! The Feelers were late, as they'd missed their plane from Melbourne, and played a short set, which didn't actually do a lot for me. At one point their backing tape skipped, which didn't go down too well with the crowd who thought that two guitars & a bass were capable of making all the wierd sounds they were hearing. After The Feelers we were subjected to an overlong laser show choreographed to Van Halen's "Right Now". <yawn> Surely a Kiwi hit would have been more appropriate (Counting the Beat, Pulsing or even Room that Echoes). The Finn brothers took the stage to rousing applause. Eddie Rayner on keys, Liam Finn on drums and Dave Gent on bass. They started off with Suffer Never, which I thought was an odd choice. But it went well with the lasers, it looked like Neil was standing waist deep in the ocean. They sang Six Months in a Leaky Boat next, where Tim was inaudible. I though he'd lost his voice, but it turns out his headset mike was playing up. I guess Tim's learned not to trust his lips, and sang the whistling solo. Eddie played the full coda too, which is always a treat. Niwhai was next, though I could only hear Neil's voice. It wasn't a patch on the Sweetwaters version of two months ago. Tim commented that since Sweetwaters, Niwhai had moved to Sydney. Neil replied "That's where everyone goes before they come back to New Zealand, TIM!", which got a huge roar from the crowd. Tim then sang Dirty Creature, and again was inaudible for the first verse. Once he grabbed a regular microphone he came through loud and clear though. Speaking of coming through load and clear on the microphone, Neil berated his roadie, while standing too close to his mike, "Look, shut up and just fucking fix it, OK!", to which the crowd all replied "Ooooooooooh". Bloody hilarious. There was much thanking of roadies and their tireless work by Tim later, perhaps to make amends. The acoustic section was the highlight. First Neil had to borrow a pick from a member of the crowd, as he'd forgotton his! As Neil started playing the first bars of It's Only Natural, Tim couldn't figure out where to put the capo and said "You're all about to learn the sad truth about the Finn Brothers", as he called Neil over to clamp the device on the correct fret. They played Natural, plus Angels Heap, and Weather With You. The band came back, and Neil sang a rousing "Throw Your Arms Around Me". Liam then came out front with his guitar, while Harry from the Exponents took the drum stool. The Finns wrapped up with I See Red, lasers firing off every which way, and bodies being flung in all directions, and the last song of the evening was the predictible (but nonetheless enjoyable) History Never Repeats. Fun. Lots of fun. Though I have to admit to being a bit Finned out at present. I think I've heard those songs a few to many times in the last year or so, and honestly I enjoyed The Exponents & Semisonic more than the Finns on the night. A bit of a Finn drought is what I think I need. I should be back to my old self in time for Split Enz on New Years Eve with any luck... Katie & Nancy, say hi to your mum & dad for us, and we hope their bruises from the mosh pit disappear soon. (Review from Dave Dobbyn page) Tiki Taane Jul 19, 2025
 zimtrim BRUCE FAN - There is a major "The Spectrum" thread with 1400 listing. You are moving this listing to a Minor"Spectrum" thread which has only 400 listings Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Jul 19, 2025
 zimtrim BRUCE FAN - There is a major "The Spectrum" thread with 1400 listing. You are moving this listing to a Minor"Spectrum" thread which has only 400 listings Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Jul 19, 2025
 zimtrim BRUCE FAN - There is a major "The Spectrum" thread with 1400 listing. You are moving this listing to a Minor"Spectrum" thread which has only 400 listings Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Jul 19, 2025
 zimtrim BRUCE FAN - There is a major "The Spectrum" thread with 1400 listing. You are moving this listing to a Minor"Spectrum" thread which has only 400 listings Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Jul 19, 2025
 Max Grean I was there and made a cassette bootleg of The Reverend Horton Heat set and the White Zombie set. I no longer have my copy and only gave out a few to friends. Melvins / White Zombie / Reverend Horton Heat Jul 19, 2025
 David Campbell 88 This show was originally booked at Club Dada but was moved to the Curtain Club The Struts / Andrew Watt Jul 19, 2025
 Bkrazy513 What a Sunday night this was!!! My friend talked me into going to the concert. Because he had a extra ticket for it and he didn't want to go alone. He knew that I love concert's and asked me to go. I didn't want to at first because Toledo is almost a 3 hour from where we live. And we had to work at 5 AM the next morning!!! Against our better judgement we made the decision to go anyhow. We had fun on the way up there!!! Jake had a 90' Mustang 5.0 that we had been building for about two years at that time!!! You name it, we did it to this car, no joke. It was basically missing the role bar and a dang parachute to be a full race track car!!! We made that 2 hour and 45 minutes drive in just under 2 hours!!! So we was pumped...lol We got to Frankie's and made our way inside. This ended up being such a good night Joyner Lucas damn near tore the place down. I instantly became a big fan of his. I loved the way he would take old school sounds and mixed them up with the new stuff and made it sound like that's the way it was always supposed to be!!! The reason I didn't want to go was, the last time I was up there wasn't a fun ride. I hadn't been up that far north in years, for good reason. I was the definition of a problem child!!! Last time I was up there I was locked up in Juvie in Columbus, OH for stealing beer off of trains as a teenager!!! Did close to 3 years in that hellhole!!! It's a good thing I was a minor though, adult time would've been up to 60 year sentence because the railroad is federally owned and we ended up taking 129,879.17 $'s worth of Miller beer from train carts that said "Solid Gold" on them. It was like we had to know what was in them, like we talked about it for a few days and made a plan to see exactly what kind of Solid Gold was in there!!! (Every other day we was hitting them up and selling it to anyone who had money, including all the local bars in our small town. Farmer's bar, The Walk About, Hunters bar, Valley View,The Wagon Wheel and The Williamsdale End. Which is the reason why they figured out that something was going on, none of the Bars were buying any beer from the Miller venders, but they was always stocked full of it. We was selling the kegs for 20 each, 30 packs for 10, 40 Oz for a dollar. We got very, very, very lucky we was kids!!!) I wasted over two and a half years of my life for a bunch of money and every Starter Hat and coat that there was still have a couple of the coats that I had left at my Grandparents house. The Ohio State Buckeyes pullover and the zip up UC Bearcats. I also got to meet Jason (Jelly Roll) Deford there before he got released. That's the one and only good thing I can say about the place!!! Watched a dude dive off a bridge to get away and ended up breaking his neck, back, both arms and killing all the nerves in his neck and back that caused him to end up being a paraplegic. RIP Justin Brock, John Baker, Stevie Baker Jr, Chris Brown, Brandon Haney, John Prewitt and Eddie Whitaker miss y'all bro's!!! Toledo, Ohio, United States Jul 19, 2025
 5fives In this concert, Soundgarden played first, Faith No More second, Queensryche third and Metallica last. Metallica / Faith No More / Soundgarden / Queensrÿche Jul 19, 2025
 5fives The venue that this concert took place in is the Oakland Coliseum, where the Athletics baseball team used to play, not the arena, where the Warriors used to play basketball in. Metallica / Faith No More / Soundgarden / Queensrÿche Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows with Donald K Donald and Star Kommand promoters. Nazareth Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows The Guess Who Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows Triumph Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows with Donald K Donald and Star Kommand promoters. April Wine Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows with promoter Meat Loaf Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows with promoter Rush / Streetheart Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows with promoter Muddy Waters Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked Western Canada shows with promoter The Charlie Daniels Band Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked show Nazareth Jul 19, 2025
 UnrulyCanadian Worked show Rush Jul 19, 2025