June 12, 2021

Concert Review: Jeremy Redmore – Wine Cellar June 11, 2021

More than a little late, Jeremy Redmore finally gets his album launch show a full year after the release of his second solo album, The Brightest Flame.

March 2020 and it was full steam ahead, a release date, a tour planned, even a video session at The 13^th Floor and then it all came screeching to a halt as the Pandemic hit.

But they say good things are worth waiting for and that was certainly the case as former Midnight Youth frontman Jeremy Redmore finally brought the songs of The Brightest Flame to life at Auckland’s Wine Cellar.

With an early start and a solid opening act it became clear that a venue larger than the tiny Wine Cellar may have been more appropriate. The show easily sold out and the room was packed to capacity.

This could have been a recipe for disaster…beer-drinking fans out on the town on a Friday night do not always make for good music listeners, especially when the subject matter of many of the tunes on The Brightest Flame is loss, grief and heartbreak…the big three for singer-songwriters.

But, I have to say, this was the best-behaved crowd I have witnessed in a very long time.

Alayna

The evening began with Auckland’s Alayna…a young musician with a handful of singles released and an EP titled Tender.

Alayna has a voice like crystal and songs to match. Accompanied by a guitarist named Noma (I think), she played for 30 minutes, beginning with High Off You, a single from 2017 and finishing with Tender. Throughout the set the audience was quiet and respectful. Chances are most were there to see Jeremy and had no idea who this Alayna was, yet she held them spellbound.

Jeremy Redmore

That spell continued to hold when Jeremy Redmore and his band (Riley, Josh, Harry) took the stage.

The set began with a low hum building as the full house quieted down. They then played So Easy (II) and it was clear, very quickly, that Jeremy was in excellent voice. Drummer Harry Charles added to the drama with his crashing percussion…this was a band that understands the value of dynamics.

Next came Same Old Routine which featured a most welcome little ode to Paul Simon’s Graceland.

“Why are you so good?” a voice called out after the tune.

Redmore attributed it to his height (or lack of)

The mood was set and there were smiles everywhere as The Letter was played. This is an old Midnight Youth tune that was a Silver Scroll finalist back in 2008.

Clearly Jeremy was happy to acknowledge his legacy, which made the crowd even happier.

Redmore explained that the songs were stories about “ending and beginnings” and he switched back to “endings” with Fire And Snow.

“The brightest flame is the darkest shadow”…and so the lyric from Fire And Snow gives this tour its name.

This was indeed the first stop on The Brightest Flame Tour and it was running on all cylinders.

After a rocking One Day Alone, the band was dismissed and Jeremy performed solo beginning this portion with So Easy (l), which is a prequel to the song that started the set. With just his voice and guitar (and a bit of whistling) Redmore held the crowd captive…the full room was dead quiet!

Eventually keyboard player Riley was invited back to play on The Best Is Not To Come and eventually the entire band returned for Sugar And Fire.

According to Jeremy, this marked the end of the ending stories and we were treated to a rousing Southern Lights…a stadium anthem in the making.

The crowd was beaming and so was Redmore as he introduced the final song of the evening. Noting there would be no encore, he said, “I can’t do a show without finishing a set with this song…please sing along”.

And sing along they did as All On Our Own, the 2009 Midnight Youth hit filled the tiny venue and a joyous singalong closed out the night.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Chris Zwaagdyk: