Broods – Auckland Town Hall (Concert Review) 13 Feb 2015

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Broods’ debut album Evergreen hasn’t even reached the six-month anniversary of it’s release into the wild but this brother-sister duo from Nelson had no problem filling up Auckland’s Town Hall last night. This was the fourth stop on the Evergreen tour that finishes up tonight in Hamilton.

Nashville-based support act HalfNoise – former Paramore drummer Jack Farro’s new project – amped the all-ages crowd up with a short and refreshing set that saw guitar and keys take a backseat to make way for two drum kits double-kicking the life into the party right from the start.

When Georgia and Caleb Knott finally took the stage, they were met with a deafening wall of ear-splitting screams, and the phenomena wasn’t lost on front-woman, Georgia, who later mused that their success has brought them to this point in just under a year.

As Georgia worked her way back and forth across the stage, she oozed the confidence of an international superstar but when she wasn’t singing, her nervous and rambling loose end banter belied a much more vulnerable young woman still adjusting to fronting a band. She was definitely rocking a 90s vibe in the style department, with tightly braided hair, platform shoes, baggy pants and a sparkling silver cropped top-style outfit. Caleb kept a pretty low-profile for the entire show, hiding behind his sampling kit and beautiful manbun while his sister took on all of the interaction between band and audience.

The band gave the show everything they had – literally; they played every single song they’ve ever released, plus two unreleased tracks Deep End and a new one called Bedroom Door. While Bedroom Door was a stunning highlight of the show, I could feel the setlist falling into a slumber on more than one occasion. I wasn’t the only one; the phones came out, the distracted texting started, selfies were snapped. This called to mind the short and snappy sets afforded to bands playing festivals where they simply don’t have time to play their entire anthology – and perhaps there’s a very good reason why…

With an act like Broods, where some of the material is indeed quite brooding and intimate, I found that the essence of their sound didn’t quite transfer into a live show so well. Performing their song Four Walls as a stripped-back piano/vocals version didn’t grab me the way the drumbeat-dependent studio version did and their hit track Bridges felt decidedly anti-climactic for some reason.

Matters weren’t particularly helped by the low budget stage set-up that consisted of a few LED light stands, four big fans with white silk attached to the front (a very one-trick pony), and no spotlights which meant Georgia and Caleb spent most of the evening in shadow.

They put on a pretty good show and I enjoyed a lot of what Broods has got to offer, and when you consider that this is a young band in it’s early stages, their success story is impressive. I am looking forward to seeing what they might come up with five years from now, maybe after banking a little more life and stage experience.

— Catherine Hamilton

Click on any image to view a gallery of concert photos by David Watson:

Broods Set list:

Never Gonna Change
Everytime
Sleep Baby Sleep
Killing You
Taking You There
Bedroom Door
Evergreen
Medicine
Four Walls
Bridges
Deep End
Sober
Pretty Thing
L.A.F
Coat Tails

Encore:

Superstar
Mother & Father

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