July 15, 2024

Fan Club + The Boondocks & Kliffs – Big Fan: July 14, 2024 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Fan Club celebrated the release of their debut EP, Towards The Sun with an early Sunday show at Big Fan with their friend The Boondocks and Kliffs.

The EP was released just two days earlier and so these youngsters (ages range from 16-19) were excited to perform in front of fans…and the fans were there!

Kliffs

Kliffs Getting the party started were Kliffs, a 5-piece “indie surf/rock/reggae’ band from Auckland. I’m always a little wary of Kiwi reggae bands, but these folks laid down a groove that felt right for the night.

Vocals are handled by Millie Easton and guitarist Zavier while the remainder of the line-up is Taque (guitar), Arden (bass and TJ (drums).

The band cruised through 6 songs in about 25 minutes, playing soon-to-be-released single Sick Of It and an impressive reworking of The Police’s Message In A Bottle. A guitarist’s hand cramped up, but the condition passed and all ended well.

The Boondocks

The Boondocks are another story altogether, the duo of Scott Parker (bass) and Branden Pritchard (drums) make a big, big sound. Parker manages to make his bass sound like a guitar…and more…and they got everyone’s attention by cracking out the riff to Michael Jackson’s Beat It before settling into their own tune, Nice Guy, one of two they played from their self-titled EP, released this past February.

Their cover on Nirvana’s Breed was something to behold…intense, intimidating and loud. Kurt would have been proud.

The crowd was with them all the way, even clapping along to a drum solo as Scott jumped down from the stage to grab water at the bar.

And they too, have a new single ready for release…look for Sticks And Stones this Friday.

Fan Club

Fan Club came prepared.

The quartet appeared as a dramatic fanfare played through the PA. Crowd was amped, but unfortunately lead singer Emma Wagner’s microphone was not. So, the big moment was something of a let-down due to technical difficulties. The Big Fan soundman raced to the stage, then back to his desk, furiously pushing buttons and finally we got some vocals.

Fan Club By that time Beach Weather, the latest single, and EP opener was over but to this young band’s credit they dealt with the problem like pros and persevered on.

By the end of Westbound, the sound was sorted and when Emma introduced new song, Stay If I Wanna Stay, she and her bandmates were clearly well in control.

The quartet sounded strong as the set went on and I was impressed by the lyrical and musical depth the band goes into. Songs like Sedate and Rough venture into some serious lyrical territory and musically this is a band that already seems to be taking chances.

Fan Club Sure, they could crank out crowd-pleasing bangers like their “hit” No Caller ID, but my feeling is that they are interested in doing more than that. Fortunately their fan base seems to be on the same plain.

In addition to Emma, the band is made up of Caleb Young – Lead guitar, Thomas Christie – Drums and Tilly Wells – Bass. Emma plays rhythm guitar and handles all of the singing.

Emma got a chance to show off her love of Radiohead by covering High And Dry but for me the highlight of the set was a song called Push/Pull with some great dynamics and a sizzling vocal performance from Emma.

Fan Club

I do wonder if, maybe some additional backing vocals might help somewhere down the line and perhaps Emma’s between song banter could expand from just..”this next song is…”

I will say she did a great job of getting some audience participation going during No Caller ID, encouraging everyone to jump around with her and at one point, everyone was kneeling on the floor.

I also enjoyed Tom and Tilly’s jazzy interlude while Caleb tuned up before closing the night out with Paramore’s All I Wanted.

Overall, it was good to see and hear three such diverse acts supporting each other and being supported by a good, young crowd.

Marty Duda

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