Aldous Harding – Civic Theatre December 2, 2017

 

After touring the world with her groundbreaking second album, Party, Aldous Harding made a triumphant homecoming appearance at Auckland’s Civic Theatre last night…although the show very nearly didn’t happen.

Minutes before The Chills’ Martin Phillipps’ was to take the stage to open the show a fire alarm sounded in the venerable theatre and fans were forced to evacuate onto the sidewalk while fire appliances pulled up and made sure all was safe.

Fortunately all was good and we filed back in after a few minutes and proceeded to head for our seats.

The newly-health Martin Phillipps was in excellent form during his brief solo set, playing old favourites (Pink Frost) and new songs (Easy Peasy) that will appear on a new Chills album, due out next year.

Aldous Harding at The Civic was always going to be an “Event”. Those of us who have been following her from playing The Wine Cellar, Whammy and Hollywood Cinema were thrilled that she was able to sell out such a prestigious venue and curious to see how she would adapt to a larger room. After all, much of the appeal of Harding’s live performance has been the feeling of intimacy she develops with her audience and those trademark facial grimaces and scowls she generates as she sings.

As it turns out, not much has changed in her performance since she last played in Auckland at the tiny Pah Homestead in July. And that turned out to be a good thing.

There always seems to be an element of tension and awkwardness at an Aldous Harding show, and this one was no different.

After the initial applause when she first appeared on stage there was an extended period of dead silence in the room as Aldous situated herself, readying to play her guitar and sing. Although the length of time was only about a minute, it seemed more like an hour and the artist and the audience took part in some kind of standoff.

Finally Harding’s guitar broke the silence and the tension and she performed a spellbinding version of Swell Does The Skull, from Party.

When the song finished, there was more silence, the crowd still not daring to break that spell.

I’m So Sorry followed with Aldous’ New Zealand band joining in. They are Jonathan Pearce, of The Beths, on piano, Callum Passells on bass clarinet, sax and guitar and drummer Tristan Deck. Aldous played guitar on most songs.

One of the most satisfying elements of a live Aldous Harding performance is seeing how she uses her band. They are used sparingly, as needed, with the sax, or piano making, what seem like cameo appearance in the song, adding colour and a bit of drama. It’s definitely a case of less is more and their restraint is wonderful.

This restraint puts the focus on Aldous’ voice and it is a thing of great beauty. Whether she is singing “traditional” sounding folk songs such as Swell Does The Skull or the more angular, modern sounding tunes such as Blend, her approach is surprising, thrilling and spot on. Just listen to the way she glides through the line, “I do not have the answers” during Imagining My Man.

As the show progressed, the audience got more comfortable and bolder. Someone shouted out something after Blend, to which Aldous responded, “Sorry, what?”

Then, after Living The Classics a voice called out, “Tell us a story!”. Harding immediate response was a firm, “No”.

I would like to point out that no matter who you are seeing, and no matter how clever you think you are or how desperately you feel the need to communicate with whoever is on stage, unless asked by the artist, please refrain from shouting out from the audience. It’s annoying, distracting and no one else cares what you have to say.

Having said that, Aldous’ own interaction with the crowd was minimal.

“I’ve got a new shirt on so I’m a little shy”, she shared with us after the second song.

Later she told us that she’s been “speaking in between songs to create atmosphere”.

She did apologize about the fire alarm. “I’m sorry about the smoke detector, I shouldn’t have had that cigar in the toilet”.

The hour-long set was based on the new album…in fact she eventually played every track from it…along with new single, Elation and two more newer songs, Weight Of The Planets and Pilot, both of which were performed at the July show.

This December show at The Civic closes out a year that has seen Aldous Harding go from a local favourite to an international phenomenon.

All the attention doesn’t seem to have phased her as she seems to be determined to carve out her own musical path.

Let’s see where she leads us next.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Reuben Raj:

Aldous Harding set list:

1. Swell Does The Skull
2. I’m So Sorry
3. Elation
4. Horizon
5. Blend
6. Weight Of The Planets
7. Party
8. Living The Classics
9. Imagining My Man
10. What If Birds Aren’t Singing, They’re Screaming
11. The World Is Looking For You
12. Pilot