Concert Review: Hospital Sports – Wine Cellar July 3, 2020

Hospital Sports deliver a warming blast of emo/indie rock to an appreciative young audience on a chilly Friday night in Auckland.

Danny Ebdale is the guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and driving force behind the band. It has been active in Auckland about 9 years now.

The engine powering the machine is Nick Prussing drums, and Laurence Diack bass guitar.

Their third album On We and You is released today. Hibernating during the lockdown, and not have performed in front of an audience for a year, they are keen to crank things up and display their chops.

I am bringing fresh ears and curiosity. There is a distinctive buzz amongst the young aficionados’ tonight, as the band tunes up and primes their gadgets.

Just missed openers Ripship. Apologies, will catch them sometime no doubt.

The first three songs, Above the Pier, It’s Not My Fault and Tongue Tied. The guitar lays down a drone from which melody lines and riffs emerge.

The drums lay down a relentless beat all night and is a highlight. Bass and drums merge to provide a Sensurround sound

The vocals are not prominent in the sound mix tonight and tend to get buried. Listening to the album later, Ebdale has a fine melodic and restrained singing style.

Silence is Deafening starts with a chiming and ringing guitar drone whilst the drums lay down solid anchoring thumps. Guitarist then revs it up and lays down fast swirling melodies in bursts.

Similar also is Let You In. The voice is more prominent. The drums lay down a marching beat. Again, the guitar chimes and lays down nice floating melodies.

A relentless ocean of sound from which emerge melodies breaking the surface like leaping dolphins, to dive back down again. They remind me of Husker Du with slower and less frenetic rhythms.

That immediately warms me to them.

And they’re not too dissimilar to Radiohead either. Melodic, edgy and atmospheric.

Life Support is the single lifted off the album, and is one highlight tonight. Authoritative drum thumps, a little surf guitar riffing with some dreamy vocals. Then lifting the intensity with some sound shredding. Different in having more power than the recorded version.

Sunspots and Fantastic Man are from previous albums, more familiar to the audience, and probably reflect more their trademark emo/indie rock/shoegaze style.

Guitars shimmer, melodies float up. Behind an anchoring artillery of rhythm.

One young enthusiast told me he thought they had a more metal sound tonight especially from the rhythm section. They certainly gave the music power and momentum quite different to their recorded work.

Maybe that is the pent-up energy of being in country-wide quarantine, and being in front of a live audience after a long interval.

They certainly appeal to me. I enjoy their recorded sound. And I appreciate their harder energy onstage and will keep an eye out to catch them again.

Rev Orange Peel

 

Set List

1. Above the Pier
2. It’s Not My Fault
3. Tongue Tied
4. Silence is Deafening
5. Let You In
6. Water
7. Life Support (New Single)
8. Go To Sleep
9. Don’t Give In
10. Sunspots
11. Fantastic Man