Alison Moyet – Civic Theatre: May 21, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
ALISON MOYET brought her beautiful and familiar voice to the beautiful and familiar Civic Theatre in Auckland, in her first visit to Aotearoa in 8 years. Carin Newbould was there to report back for The 13th Floor, with Michael Jeong photographing the leading lady.
ALISON MOYET is one hell of a performer. Whether known by her former moniker as “Alf”, or recognised as half of Yazoo (alongside Vince Clarke), she’s spent 40 years entertaining audiences worldwide with her unmistakeable voice.
The gig was originally scheduled for the Town Hall, but realising that it would sell out was shifted to the sumptuous surroundings of The Civic, which served to match the warmth and grandeur of Moyet’s huge voice. Her power hasn’t diminished over the years; she loves playing live, saying “Live work really matters to me. I love the physical feeling that singing gives me. It’s totally primal and euphoric.” The audience seemed pretty euphoric to have her back, in her first tour to Aotearoa since 2017.
Opening with an atmospheric track called Fire, Moyet’s soulful style is immediately captivating. She’s got an extensive and eclectic back catalogue, spanning eight albums (and a massive 23 million album sales) across those four decades, but these weren’t just familiar, lazy performances of old favourites; instead, new songs from recent album release Key (2024) are intermingled with reimagined and refreshed renditions of classics from her time in Yazoo and from her solo work.
The lighting was exceptional and the sound mixes were great, balancing Moyet’s vocals with the multi-instrumentalists who flanked her. Both Brendan Cox and long term Musical Director, co-writer and producer Sean McGhee did double duty on guitars and keyboards, providing silky 80s synthesiser sound and booming basslines. Changeling has a great catchy hook, new song Such Small Ales features a heavy bass and Beautiful Gun is reminiscent of Depeche Mode’s darker output. There’s even a mini acoustic set, introduced by Moyet as “our buskers’ moment”, with them “stripping it back” for Filigree and a jaunty ditty entitled It Won’t Be Long, with McGhee on tambourine and Moyet on self-professed “comedy harmonica”.
There are definitely lots of dreamy numbers in the set, complementing the singer’s slinky chanteuse styling in clingy and flattering black. Moyet’s every inch the glamorous diva, a forerunner of Adele and her sad women’s songs, but her delivery is interspersed with self-deprecating humour, interesting insights and back-stories; All Signs of Life being her musings about long distance bike riders and Filigree about an unexpected emotional response to an art-house film viewed in Amsterdam. She’s down to earth and the audience lap it up and love her for it.
Moyet knows her fan base “I‘m assuming you’re old, like me!”, knows her alto voice (“I sound like a whale” and “I’m like a bassoon”) and knows how to construct a really good gig. Apparently this is the trio’s 57th show performing together and they’ve been on the road since February, touring a beautifully paced, constructed and balanced programme. Moyet’s aim was to select songs which “sit cohesively together and resonate, as a woman in my 60s”. She nailed it, with 21 tracks across a packed two hours.
More was sultry, This House plaintive and poignant and Can’t Say It Like I Mean It gorgeously emotive. Songs ranged from new offering The Impervious Me, talking about self-doubt and Imposter Syndrome, back to Nobody’s Diary, written when Moyet was only 16 and originally an early hit back when she was with Vince Clarke in Yazoo. Obviously the Yazoo hits went down well, with the familiar intro to Only You heralding a big cheer and Situation and Don’t Go respectively starting and rounding off the encore, with upbeat solo hit Love Resurrection in between.
Both Is This Love? and All Cried Out were given dark, reimagined interpretations, reworking the familiar hits in interesting and slightly unsettling ways. This definitely wasn’t an 80s homage or a throwback, but instead a two hour masterclass in how to entertain with class and finesse, rendering the retro relevant. Moyet says “On stage, I remember how to connect with myself.” On this occasion, she (and her comedy harmonica) truly connected with the Auckland audience too.
Carin Newbould
Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Michael Jeong:
SETLIST
- Fire
- More
- Such Small Ale
- Nobody’s Diary (Yazoo)
- The Impervious Me
- So Am I
- Can’t Say It Like I Mean It
- This House
- Changeling
- Beautiful Gun
- Only You (Yazoo)
- Filigree
- It Won’t Be Long
- Is This Love?
- All Signs of Life
- Footsteps
- Whispering Your Name (Jules Shearcover)
- All Cried Out
ENCORE
- Situation (Yazoo)
- Love Resurrection
- Don’t Go (Yazoo)
Alison Moyet plays the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington on Saturday 24 May (tickets from Ticketmaster https://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/alison-moyet-tickets/artist/770813) and Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 May (tickets from Ticketek https://premier.ticketek.co.nz/shows/show.aspx?sh=ALISONM25)
