September 8, 2024

Fur Patrol – Double Whammy: September 7, 2024 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Fur Patrol wrapped up their latest reunion at Auckland’s Double Whammy, celebrating the 20^th anniversary of their album, Collider.

That album was recorded in Australia following the success of their debut album, 2000’s Pet. But the band lost momentum, taking almost four years due to record label wrangling and the decision to start over in Melbourne.

Fur Patrol never recovered and eventually split in 2008, although Collider and eventual third album, Local Kid deserved a better fates than they got.

Julia Deans has gone on to release two very-well-received solo albums and the trio of Deans, Andrew Bain (bass) and Simon Braxton (drums) have reunited fairly regularly, most recently in 2022.

Over the past few years Julia Deans has proven to be one of New Zealand’s finest vocalists and song interpreters, covering Joni Mitchell, Billie Holiday and Jacques Brel while also collaborating with Jon Toogood, Tiki Taane, Anika Moa and Anna Coddington. Both Anika and Anna were spotted at tonight’s show, supporting their friend.

And audiences attending the latest Come Together show, also happening tonight, might well have expected to see and hear Julia singing something from Sgt. Pepper as she’s been an integral member of the group of Kiwi All-Stars who take part in the series of classic album covers.

But tonight its back to her roots as a nineties “rock chick”.

Tom Lark

First up is Tom Lark (aka Shannon Fowler), fresh from a UK tour and playing with his band. The shaggy songster reminds me of Pavement with a touch of Kurt Vile. The vibe is good and the room is filling up fast.

Fur Patrol

This is the last of four shows (originally just two) for the reunited trio and they take the stage at about 9:45. Julia Deans’ guitar grids out the riff to Now (from Pet) and off we go.

It’s a bit of a bumpy ride, at least early on. After second song, Andrew (a fan fave) Julia stops to address the crowd and tune her guitar.

“It’s going to get very sweaty in here!” she warns us, and then threatens to cover Wagon Wheel and Sweet Caroline. The threat is never carried out, although Sweet Caroline is brought up again later in the set.

Fur Patrol After a re-tune and a false start the set kicks into gear with a trio of tunes from Collider, accompanied by more entertaining banter from Julia, with a story that features dog poo and a bird strike.

Things get a little loose with Enemy…but the third attempt is the charm and the following Hauling You Around is a highlight of the evening, leaving one audience member near me, howling at the end.

A couple of moody tunes… Into The Sun and Local Kid…changed the dynamic, which is what a well-thought out set should do.

Fur Patrol But then, Julia’s guitar was back in the mix and the energy level rose with Fade Away another Collider highlight.

From there we got a couple of singalongs…Get Along and Lydia (of course) and finally a trio of oldies from the band’s first EP, 1998’s Starlifter.

By now Julia is beaming, calling the singalong to Lydia, the most incredible ever and telling us “I nearly cried”.

Instead of crying , she strayed from the setlist, adding Dominoes, “the first song we ever put out into the universe”.

A special moment from a special band.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Michael Jeong

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