Concert Review: Tribute to Radiohead – Ponsonby Social Club November 26, 2020

The Loose Quartet inhabit the House of Radiohead, shake the foundations and walls, and leave it covered in bright flashing lights and colours. 

Once again, Kenji Iwamitsu-Holdaway guitar and bass, Guy Harrison keyboards, JY Lee multi-instruments and gadgets and Swap Gomez drums. Members of Yoko-Zuna, Avantdale Bowling Club and Miltones.

Jazz, Funk, Soul and pyrotechnics as promised from their previous tribute shows sees Ponsonby Social Club sold out. A popular venue now in Bohemian Auckland with a steady stream of top-quality local musicians, presenting their art in an intimate setting with superb sound. You may well be in London’s Camden Town or New York’s Greenwich Village.

Opening song Pyramid starts faithful to the original. A slow pastoral piano. Flute blowing like a solitary zephyr, dancing like a nymph. A high tone guitar standing in for vocals. Indian colours at the beginning. Cymbals crash like waves. Jazz in tone as they stretch out.

Morning Mr Magpie and they really cook up a storm.  A rhythm attack from the keyboards and drums. Funk and it’s fast, sounding like artillery. They lock in the groove and raise the temperature. The Piper sings and weaves himself into the dervish. The guitar steps up and shimmers and emanates like the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The build-up and progression seem inspired from Michael Bloomfields East-West masterpiece.

Packd Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box has a clarinet which sounds like massed metallic trumpets. Music disperses out in sparkle showers. Dissonant European electric nightclub Jazz.

Across Bodysnatchers and everything seems to rise up and boil over. Begins as a fast rocker. Voice filtered and distorted through a vocoder. Electronic Cabaret Voltaire sound effects. Machines howl. Clarinet screeches and attacks like hawks. Dissonant and driving, atonal Coltrane whirlpools. The guitar imposes some authority with James Ullmer harmolodics. A bridge and the drums come back in with James Brown breakbeats. Baritone saxophone and Eastern guitar chimes.

All instrumental so far. Scheduled singer could not deliver tonight so Brayden Jeffrey has stepped in at short notice.

Weird Fishes. I learnt this at midday says Brayden. The vocals are buried somewhat in the mix but he can push through this eventually. Good tenor voice with nice falsetto (or high tenor).

Knives Out is a lament, with a light Jazz Café keyboard behind it. Played close to the original. Singer rises up to a peak to finish.

15 Step is the closest to Pop we get tonight. A jaunty dancing rhythm. Keyboards sprinkle a soothing warm shower, until they take the music to a breakdown jam.

Paranoid Android gets a huge cheer. A melodic piano intro. Strangled White Soul vocal. It’s a slow march at first with chants. The players then stretch out and improvise and finish on a high.

Rock royalty since they took off with OK Computer. Given a supercharged engine and a shiny new paintjob by the Ponsonby Social Loose Quartet. They are building up a following here. Promise us more shows early next year and welcome suggestions. Catch them next time.

Rev Orange Peel     

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