June 7, 2021

Concert Review: The Phoenix Foundation & Dianne Swann

The Phoenix Foundation & Dianne Swann. The shared birthday weekend has sparked a celebration on the left-side of the Spark Arena. I wonder who’s having more fun, The Queen or The Tuning Folk’s patrons as it’s inaugurated birthday series thrusts into full swing.

The second show of festivities commenced as local fans swooped into the venue eager to see Wellington’s musical entrepreneurs The Phoenix Foundation.

Dianne Swann

Longstanding Kiwi songstress Dianne Swann opened the show, entering the stage with Ben King and Dave Khan on electric guitar and keys.

The Bads lead singer shared stripped-down versions of songs from her first solo album The War On Peace Of Mind which were refreshing and thought provoking. Her lyrics resonated throughout the room as audience members were buying their drinks and finding their places.

The song Show your Heart had a light dreamy feel to it before the trio moved onto more complex concepts in songs Losing The War On Peace And Mind and These Are The Days. Challenging lyrics “gone are the days that we use her and move on somewhere else” were presented in the song These Are The Days – a call to change the relationship we (humans) have with the environment.

As a songwriter, it’s clear as day that Dianne is force to be reckoned with. So, like she says in the song These Are The Days – “get used to the new world.”

The Phoenix Foundation

After releasing 7-full albums, a generous sprinkle of EPs, embarking on solo-works, collaborations and film scores – Taika Waititi’s Eagle vs Shark (2007), Boy (2010) and Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016), The Phoenix Foundation decided to strap us in a time machine to take us back to their landmark album – time machine it’s time to go back 11 years to the release of TPF’s 4^th LP, Buffalo.

After the myriad of instruments had been tuned by men in black shirts flying around the stage, the treasures of NZ’s alternative-pop scene welcomed the waves of anticipation vested in the crowd. A labyrinth of swaying figures made me raincheck on leaving my front row spot to fill my empty wine class.

The 6-man band was joined last night by alternative artist and producer Anita Clark a.k.a Motte whose steamy voice provided fitting harmonies to Sam Scott and Luke Buda’s lead vocals. She glided between percussion, keys and violin. Her violin playing enhanced several tracks as they swelled into emotive raucous and her experimental style especially captivated the audience in the song Former Glory from the band’s most recent album Friend Ship (2020).

The group passed guitars around to which the difference wasn’t just in aesthetics but embedded in reverberation of tones and sum of tuning pegs visible. Sam Scott was playing a 12-string guitar in the galloping title track Buffalo before moving on to his gritty Gibson SG to play the videogame-like Flock of Heart’s motif.

Luke Buda was playing what looked like a Fender Jazzmaster before reaching for his acoustic guitar and meeting it with a metal slide for the fan infected singalong Bitte Bitte.

Chris O’Conner’s kick drum was almost bursting the room and the beating of my heart was catching up with the tempo as the euphoric tune Golden Ship flashed images of interstellar before my eyes with the lyrics, “Take us up into your golden ship, fill our veins with syrup of the stars”.

After a trip around the stars and a pep into the idiosyncratic stories of the band The Tuning Folk Birthday Series gets a tick of approval from me. The Phoenix Foundation if not already, is becoming a NZ staple and by taking us back a tad over a decade to when they celebrated international successes was yet another reason to celebrate this weekend! Furthermore, I hope your enjoying your weekend too, Your Majesty!

Odessa Neilands

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