Concert Review: Wallis Bird – Tuning Fork March 22, 2019

Irish singer songwriter Wallis Bird made the most of her first impression with a New Zealand audience at Auckland’s Tuning Fork.

With five albums under her belt, and a sixth on the way, it’s about time Wallis Bird performed in New Zealand.

Wearing a pair of white platform shoes that looked like they came straight out of Elton John’s closet, and with an acoustic guitar strapped on (the left-hander plays a right-handed guitar upside down), Bird seemed a bit nervous as she took the stage, taking well over five minutes of what she called “nervous chatter” before finally getting around to her first song of the night.

But it soon became clear the Bird is a natural on stage and those first five minutes were utterly charming as Wallis compared performing her first song in a new country to a first kiss.

Shouts from the audience of the names of towns in Ireland made the singer feel at home and the feeling was amplified when one fan presented her with what looked like a plush doll wearing a sports jersey and a photo of a face taped to it. That photo turned out to be Bird’s cousin, Brenda, and so, the love affair between Wallis and the audience was in full swing.

After a few knock knock jokes, Bird finally got to the first song of the evening, her latest single, The Ocean, written while she was in Byron Bay last year.

For those new to Wallis Bird, her music consist of forceful guitar strumming and powerful singing, accompanied from time to time by loops and percussion. I was reminded of Amanda Palmer and KT Tunstall.

Bird’s songs veer from humorous observations to poignant reflection often in the same song.

Her Love Respect Peace was presented as “a mantra” and was both melodic and percussive. It segued into That Leads The Way and the evening’s first singalong. It also resulted in the evening’s first broken guitar string.

Bird described herself as a “serial string breaker” and so she moved over to the keyboard and performed three tunes from there while a new guitar string was sought.

Those three keyboard based tunes provided some of the most emotional musical moments of the evening, particularly the reflective power ballad Change.

Then she was back with her guitar performing Control, from her 2016 album, Home, followed by a strident reading of I’m So Tired Of That Line, another highlight, featuring plenty of discordant clanging on the guitar.

This, of course resulted in another string breaking, and, in turn, a lovely acapella reading of a song inspired by a weekend spent with her family called Life Is Long (But The Time Is Short).

As the set progressed, Wallis’ performance grew more powerful and urgent.

Both I Can Be Your Man and As The River Flows featured vocals that sent her voice into the stratosphere.

Finally, with the stage floor strewn with guitars with strings ripped from them, the evening wrapped with a In dictum, with Wallis joined by her crew members Tracy K and Aiden.

Finally, surveying the carnage surrounding her, Wallis Bird brought things to a close with the very lovely To My Bones, begun acapella and then with guitar.

By then, the singer had more than won over her first-time Kiwi audience.

And special mention should go out to opener Kerryn Fields, a Kiwi folkie now based overseas. Her set was an unexpected surprise thanks to her endearing stage presence and songs such as Trains & Whistles and Canadian Folk Music.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Veronica McLaughlin:

 

Wallis Bird set list:

1. The Ocean
2. Woman Oh Woman!
3. Love Respect Peace
4. That Leads The Way
5. Change
6. Pass The Darkness
7. Seasons
8. Control
9. I Am So Tired Of That Line
10. Life Is Long (But The Time Is Short)
11. I Can Be Your Man
12. As The River Flows
13. Home
14. In dictum
15. To My Bones