07/12/2025

Nadia Reid – The Powerstation: December 6, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Towards the end of her generous set, Nadia Reid spoke of her studio in Salford and how it takes two buses and over an hour to get there from her new home in Manchester. But, said a close friend, it’s all about the journey.

Tonight was just that: about the journey. Hearing the fruits of the bumpy road across two pregnancies to complete her fourth album Enter Now Brightness. And celebrating the journey from talented, yet largely unknown, solo opening act (such as I encountered for Jordie Lane at the Tuning Fork right on a decade ago) to, tonight: headlining at the Powerstation with her tight and talented kiwi band.

A celebration of journeys whose destinations were likely never fully anticipated.

SJD

First up its Sean Donnelly, aka SJD, one of the statesmen of the Auckland music scene. Solo innovator and experimenter as well as key contributor to bands such as Neil Finn’s Pajama Club and Don McGlashan’s Lucky Stars-era group.

Tonight, its SJD on acoustic guitar overlaying various pedals that bring in a wide palette of sounds. Looking monastic, happy and comfortable in his skin.

Crafting jangly sounds over fuzzy background and primal yells for opener I Wanna Be Foolish. Soulful vocal on Superman You’re Crying.

Then a more emphatic strum that opens the languid Helensville, one of the great place-evoking songs of this land (first-equal with Golden Horse’s Riverhead perhaps).

Next a selection of Donnelley’s Miniatures: almost-haiku songs introduced as his synth-pop-karaoke medley-thing.

Lava lamp is a highlight for its affectionate banality: This is the door to my room/ I like my laptop too.

Last offering is the uplifting mix of textured instrumentation and soulful melody that is Beautiful Haze. A too-brief reminder of what a taonga SJD is.

Nadia Reid

First song Emanuelle sets the tone. Far too much at stake now/ And I see you on the rise. This song maybe named for someone else’but speaks to Nadia Reid’s journey. Past the point of no return, 33 and too far into music for anything else she comments.

And yes, she’s certainly been on the rise. Vigorously touring Britain and Europe to great acclaim. A somewhat undersold Powerstation doesn’t speak fully to a homecoming star tonight. Timing perhaps? Too much else on for people in the lead-u to Christmas maybe.

And what a band. Each with their own impressive CV. The four cluster around Reid for the opening song: Tom Healy, usually on guitar plays harmonica. Richie Pickard on double bass. Joe McCallum conjures creative percussion. And there he is: Reid’s loyal guitarist Sam Taylor.

I’ve seen her so many times solo or just with Taylor. Part of me dreads missing the crispness of lyrics in a full-band setting. But with excellent mixing that fear is misplaced: tonight Nadia’s poetry shines.

She looks stunning in a silver embroidered skirt. Flowers attached to all the mic stands. And despite a decade of touring that endearing awkwardness remains. A hint of unease to always remind us it’s the songs, always the songs that are centre stage.

And despite me having played them on repeat, the new songs off Enter Now Brightness shine at another level live.

We hear the backstory. In January 2021 I had fire in my belly for another album. I was a little pregnant and a lot sick. We eventually made it.

Hotel Santa Cruz we are told is a love letter to her beloved Port Chalmers.

I don’t like change she says. But we’ve all taken risks. Maybe this is more evolution than change. The next chapter on a journey. A journey into the light.

On Baby Bright, both McCallum and Healy work the same keyboard while Taylor extracts exquisite guitar sounds.

We get a cover – John Martyn’s Don’t Want to Know. Beautiful delivery. I don’t want to know ’bout evil/Only want to know ’bout love. A song for our times.

And lots of fragments of biography (When I met my first daughter felt I’d known her all my life). Welcome extras to the reverential audience.

A couple of solo songs. Even Now, written after Dudley Bensons 40^th (he understood why I needed to move away) and Woman Apart during which the band inconspicuously rejoins her on stage.

Their return is for a reason. Delicate moments are over as the gusto of Oh Canada lands among us: that song about the itch to travel, but the yearning to be grounded. Coming home, home to the other side offers new meaning tonight knowing Manchester has claimed her for now.

Being at home in two places. Yet finding peace in reaching that point. So familiar to so many of us. The Godwits Fly, as kiwi novelist Robin Hyde wrote. A home in each hemisphere.

A brief encore and gracious bow as the clock passes eleven. The set closes with Right on Time off 2017’s Preservation.

A night of a little of the old, but mostly new: songs from one of our modest but shining talents. All the most exquisite knowing the brevity of her return to this land of light.

Robin Kearns

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Chris Zwaagdyk:

Nadia Reid: