Concert Review: The California Honeydrops – The Tuning Fork, April 11, 2019

0

A vibrant mix of funk, soul, and blues filled The Tuning Fork last night, as The California Honeydrops weaved charisma and playful crowd engagement through their two-hour set.

In contrast to the wet and deterring weather in Auckland, The Tuning Fork was filled with warmth, beginning with the soulful, powerful voice of opening act, Sandy Mill. Accompanied by Dianne Swann on guitar, the two turned attention to the stage from the opening lines of A Piece Of Me through to the closing Charade.

Mill’s voice has appeared on countless local and international tracks over the years, but watching her perform on a near-empty stage with just one other musician showed its true power, with much of the crowd taken aback by the sheer volume and clarity of her vocals.

Following Mill and Swann – and a surprising fifteen minutes early – were The California Honeydrops. Opening with a mellow buildup in Every Once In A While set the tone for their set, through a combination of Southern soul and R&B in both the instruments and the immediate charisma of lead vocalist, Lech Wierzynski.

The Honeydrops are well-known for bringing a vibrant energy to their performances, but it was the sheer number of instruments – from trumpet and tenor sax to clarinet, washboard and both bongo and conga drums – included in their set which was often most impressive. The other key ingredient to their success as a performers is an ability not to just to complement each other as musicians, but have an on-stage conversation throughout their songs.

This conversational style of playing was notable in Standin’ Still Blues and the fifteen-minute When It Was Wrong, which was a clear reflection of their roots as a band performing in the San Francisco Bay Area’s BART trains. Many of their songs still had a flavour of those long, flowing subway performances, where it’s vital to catch the the attention of a passing commuters, but continue to draw in a crowd through intermittent tempo changes and impressive, individual solos.

With nothing more than a short address to the crowd, the band moved from washboard, bass-sliding Candy Man to the deeply tender blues number, Rain. Two songs later, they switched into the jazz-blues Cry Baby Blues, mixing touches of Red House by Hendrix, with aching, soulful vocals and a hand-muted trumpet performance. The variety of their set showed how, ultimately, this band do their best work when they can just feel the best music for the moment and the crowd, and play without restrictions in length or genre.

One undeniable aspect to The Honeydrops’ performance is their on-stage charisma and ability to engage with a crowd. It takes a lot to raise the collective energy of a small crowd, but by the end of the second number, Tell Me (I Wanna Know), much of The Tuning Fork was clapping, clicking, singing along and anything else that was asked of them.

Although it might be expected from The Honeydrops with a set where many of the songs ran over ten minutes, it’s another reflection of their origins as a subway band; a fast-talking, high-energy, positive stage presence that overrides any heckling energy from the crowd.

Without an encore, but with every song given its own by the nature of their performance, last night’s set showed how far this group have come from their origins in the Bay Area, and that the power of their unique performance and musical ability could never have been contained to a subway car.

Oxford Lamoureaux

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Trevor Villiers:

 

California Honeydrops Setlist:

Every Once In A While

Tell Me (I Wanna Know)

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You

Standin’ Still Blues

Old Songs (Betty Wright & The Roots Cover)

Candy Man

Rain

Pocket Chicken

Cry Baby Blues

When It Was Wrong

Brokedown

Don’t Let The Green Grass Fool You

Oxford Lamoureaux
Latest posts by Oxford Lamoureaux (see all)