Lucy Munro & Fan Club – 13th Floor Studio: July 14, 2023

It almost didn’t happen. Christchurch indie-rock Lucy Munro found herself without a venue on the morning of her scheduled show in Auckland. Fortunately a solution was found.

By noon the show had moved from The Underground at St. Kevin’s Arcade to The 13^th Floor Studio on Symonds St.

Lucy and her adopted Auckland band Pat’s Cave clambered up the stairs and set up to rehearse. Meanwhile 13^th Floor sound man Chris McCollum scoured the city for all the necessary bits and pieces…a PA, lights etc.

By 4:30 all was in place and when the doors opened at 7:30 a small crowd had already gathered at the door, anxious to get in from the cold.

Fan Club

Opening act Fan Club, a four-piece of teenagers from Auckland then got down to business, opening with a feisty version of The Killers’ Mr Brightside. This was straight-up guitar/bass & drums rock with front person Emma Wagner giving it all she had.

The 9-song set was liberally sprinkled with originals and covers, including The Beths’ Future Me Hates Me and, most impressive, Portishead’s Glory Box which featured some impressive guitar sounds from Caleb Young. The rest of the band is bassist Tilly Wells and drummer Tom Christie. Set closer, No Caller I.D. was a highlight showing that these youngsters are a band to watch.

Lucy Munro

I can’t imagine what must have been going through Lucy’s mind as the events of the day unfolded. First, being told the show is cancelled, then trusting her show to a relatively un-tried venue and all the while needing to rehearse with her backing band, whom she had just met.

Fortunately Lucy had the strength to make it all work. And have a collection of songs ready to release as an album didn’t hurt either. Lost In Imperfections is due out on July 28^th but we heard a good portion of it on this night beginning with a dramatic rocker called Sober.

The guys in Pat’s Cave did well. They are: George Homer– Guitar, Daniel Lees– Bass, Lucas Eng– Drums and James Holton– Keys and were augmented by guitarist Rory Duncan who produced Lucy’s record.

Despite a brief technical glitch involving George’s acoustic guitar (and a five-minute delay) the 45 minute set seemed to fly by with Lucy’s performance gaining strength the more she sang.

By the time she got to Look At Me, we could tell she had hit her stride and ‘finished with a bang’ with singles Wine-Stained Wedding Dress and This Would Be A Love Song.

Of course there was an encore with Burn It All Down leaving us wanting more.

That’s how it should have been all along.

So, congrats to Lucy, Rory, Pat’s Cave and Fan Club for tuning a potential tragedy into an undeniable victory. Rock & roll was the winner on the night.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery.

Lucy Munro set list:

1. Sober
2. 35 Film
3. Could’ve Been
4. Sarah
5. Solid Land
6. Knotless
7. Decay
8. Look At Me
9. Wine-Stained Wedding Dress
10. This Would Be A Love Song
11. Burn It All Down

Fan Club Set list:

1. Brightside
2. Complicated
3. Was It Us
4. Future Me Hates Me
5. Rough
6. Trees
7. Glory Box
8. Never Ever
9. No Caller I.D.