Concert Review: Georgia Lines at Anthology Lounge, 24 July 2021

Georgia Lines looking fabulously androgynous in a double-breasted suit and blue eye-shadow, delivered a defining set of superior soulful Pop to a near-capacity Anthology Lounge crowd.

Just as she came close to stealing the recent all-women Tuawahine concert a month ago, she successfully steals her own show. She is a teacher of five-year-olds, so maybe it ain’t so hard for her to crack the whip and partner that with some seductive discipline for the noisy but friendly audience tonight. At one stage, she asked for quiet before she told a little story, and waited in best schoolmistress fashion for the noisy buggers to shut up. Sorry Miss!

Let’s take a look at the two support acts.

Brody Leigh

Brody tells me she’s been playing music since she was seven years old. Just eighteen, but she is hot off a Smokefree Rockquest win in 2020 with brother Ben, as duo Brody and Ben.

There is a Ben with her tonight playing guitar, but not her brother.

She is hampered a bit with a muddy sound mix and some distortion issues. When it comes together, she has a big and impressive Pop voice for a diminutive young lady.

Back Yard Boy and you hear some nice phrasing but the voice comes up on Old Me, an original. A teen angst voice, but she is smooth and pushes effortlessly up to the high tones. Imagine a young Cyndi Lauper breaking out.

The sound desk is sorted and two covers reveals her latent burgeoning talent.

Wilkinson’s Afterglow and Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire. Her confidence has risen, as she has also had to battle a noisy audience. Packs a punch with an impressive vocal showcase on those two, and gets to bring the crowd to join in.

Tijay

Tijay the band is the vehicle for singer Tiffany Clayton. With her are Jassher Clayton drums, Aaron Boyens bass and Aaron Clarke keyboards.

Musicians from Hamilton and they have four singles available on Spotify which they lay out for us tonight.

Drum and bass lead all the songs and anchor their sound, which shows a nice variety of styles. Tiffany also has to contend with her vocals getting buried in the mix, which she does eventually.

Better Off and Submarine are melodic bedroom Pop. The rhythm is spare but dominant with the accent on the One beat, as James Brown called it.

When her voice comes up, Tiffany puts in some understated Soul phrasing with Blame. This one shifts to the off-beat and they work this up to a great little Two-Tone Ska bounce.

Dizzy, and the tempo slows to a shuffle to let the singer show some power with great high vocals and a style evoking the Sixties Girl Goup sound. Twenty-four times around the sun. Sweet and melodic.

They break out a new one, Emotional. Well-crafted, clever Pop music with some tribal beats. The singer blends her voice to the rhythm.

Georgia Lines

She starts with a killer, Falling. Voice huge and powerful, overriding any issues of sound mix problems. Sustains at the peak and is stunning.

Same Things does bury the voice. Pop with an accent on soul and the band conjures up the floating airy Marvin Gaye sound of What’s Goin’ On.

Vacant Cities and an easy comparison can be made to the early Kate Bush. The voice is pitch perfect, well-controlled and a little quirky. There is a theatrical nature to her style, and the power comes from her control rather than any singing gymnastics.

Call Me by My Name is her excellent brand-new single and it’s a shame that it’s spoiled by low tone distortion. It also has that Marvin Gaye atmospheric.

Breaking Up’s Easy and her smooth Soul Pop voice can evoke the style of Dusty but more accurately Sandie Shaw. The female Blue-eyed Soul divas.

Made For Loving is outstanding. The mid-Seventies Soul merging into hard Disco sound. A great Chic bass line and some chanks guitar rhythm. The singer is commanding.

Then she disappears into the crowd and reappears on the baby grand piano in the middle of the room. Olivia is pure and soulful Pop angst. Climbs to the vocal peaks again. All my friends/ Kind of feel sorry for them/ Never felt this way for no-one. Tells us she wrote it about herself and her personal discovery.

My Love. A break-up song inspired by her eventual partner. She has reappeared on stage and somehow changed into a white sparkling gown. Dramatic passages highlighting the light and the dark. But transcendent and not burdened.

An encore is demanded and she ends with a sensation. Hine e Hine. The waiata she sang to stunning effect at Tuawahine and she has circled back to where she started the show.

Kill ‘em and leave!

Rev Orange Peel