Concert Review: Kendall Elise – Anthology Lounge February 14, 2019

Love was in the air last night at Auckland’s Anthology Lounge as Kendall Elise and her band celebrated Valentine’s Day with songs both of romance and heartbreak.

Many of the audience members were in their finest red outfits to help set the tone of the evening which began with a (mostly) solo set by Kendall playing some of her favourite love songs beginning with Sea Of Love.

After a lovely version of Dave Dobbyn’s You Oughta Be In Love, Kendall introduced her friend Fran, who, along with a sweet voice, brought along her ukulele. They harmonised on Kasey Chambers’ The Stupid Things I Do and Carole King’s Will You Love Me Tomorrow.

Then after a heart-breaking I Can’t Make You Love Me, things got a bit more raucous when rockabilly singer Alissa Place joined in for Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s My Baby Left Me.

Then it was time for more heartbreak with John Prine’s Angel From Montgomery.

I really appreciated that Kendall went out of her way to include Kiwi and Aussie tunes to cover, and Bic Runga’s The Be All And End All was a highlight of the set.

The first half of the show finished with Alissa’s hubby Kevin Place taking the stage to sing Gram Parsons’ That’s All It Took with Kendall, then the full band making their first appearance (after a delay that found bass player Rob Scott briefly “indisposed”. They closed the set with Long Black Veil, best known from The Band’s Music From Big Pink.

Both the song choices and the performances were wonderful and I would have been happy with just that one set.

But there was more. After a brief intermission, Kendall and band (drummer Chris Kemp, guitarist John Segovia and Rob “Dizzy Finger” Scott on bass) reclaimed the stage and played another full set.

That set, of course, included Kendall’s new release, Valentine Street, followed by a version of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon that had the crowd swooning and swaying. John Segovia’s steel guitar work was beautiful. Let’s face it, anytime we get to hear John Segovia play is a treat, and he added tasteful licks and melodies throughout the night.

Kendall’s cover of Bruce’s Dancing In The Dark was, as usual, mesmerizing, despite the brief distraction mid-song of a buzz seemingly generated by Scott’s mobile phone.

If you weren’t in the mood after that, exotic dancer “Amorous Ava” stepped up to add some spice to Black Dog

Then it was on to regular features such as Suzi Quatro’s Your Mama Won’t Like Me and “hit” single, Heart Full Of Dirt.

Kendall’s solo rendition of Maria McKee’s If Love Is A Red Dress closed the evening with a appropriate node to the prevalent dress code.

I must say, the whole event felt more like a gathering of friends and family rather than a concert, which made this show the perfect place to spend Valentine’s Day.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

Kendall Elise set 1:

1. Sea Of Love
2. You Oughta Be In Love
3. The Stupid Things I Do
4. Will You Love Me Tomorrow
5. I Can’t Make You Love Me
6. My Baby Left Me
7. Angel From Montgomery
8. The Be All And End All
9. That’s All It Took
10. Long Black Veil

Kendall Elise set 2:

1. The Clocktower
2. Kirk’s Bush
3. Valentine Street
4. Harvest Moon
5. The Best Of Town And Country
6. Dancing In The Dark
7. Black Dog
8. Your Mama Won’t Like Me
9. Kingseat
10. Heart Full Of Dirt
11. If Love Is A Red Dress