Madeleine Peyroux Jazzes up Holy Trinity Cathedral: March 18, 2023 (Concert Review)

Madeleine Peyroux closed out this leg of her Careless Love Forever Tour in grand style at Auckland’s regal Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Careless Love is the 2004, Larry Klein-produced album that has just been reissue as a ‘deluxe edition’ and features Peyroux’s take on songs by W.C. Handy, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan and Elliot Smith and hearing and seeing Madeleine and her band perform at such a beautiful venue as the Holy Trinity Cathedral is, indeed, something fans have been looking forward to for some time.

That wait to just a little longer thanks to a “catastrophic software malfunction’ that found ticketholders searching for seats that were not there. Fortunately, the staff on hand dealt with the snafu quickly and professionally and soon we were all seated and waiting for the magic to begin.

Nick Dow

It was Auckland’s own Nick Dow, who got things started. You may have caught him backing Jamie McDell or Teeks, but tonight he is front and centre, sitting at a Nord keyboard and beginning his set with a droning violin piece that would have made John Cale smile.

The violin playing bookended his 30-minute set that found him on the keys while singing a selection of new songs and, at least one that’s been out for a while titled Run.   It was a suitably solemn, if almost hymn like, start to the evening.

Madeleine Peyroux

“For me, there is no music without you”. Madeleine gamely spoke her opening sentence in Maori. Her band on this tour consists of drummer Graham Hawthorne, double bassist Bill Moring and keyboard player Andy Ezrin and, needless to say, they are all impeccable musicians.

Ezrin’s cascading piano kicked off (Getting Some) Fun Out Of Life, a tune Billie Holiday recorded in 1937 and one that is not on the Careless Love album (it’s on Peyroux’s 1996 release, Dreamland).

Sitting up at the top and back of the cathedral, the view and the vibe was wonderful, however Madeleine’s vocals did get lost a bit in the reverb created in the room, but the instruments, particularly the grand piano, sounded lovely.

Peyroux and company then played the first of nine tracks we would hear from Careless Love, Dylan’s You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, a personal favourite of mine from Blood On The Tracks.

While Peyroux’s vocals were spot on, her between stage patter was hit or miss with her “joke’ about Judas and the Last Supper falling flat. But it was her sincerity in her love of the music and being with like-minded music lovers that came through and won us over.

Highlights were many…a singalong to Brazilian love song Agua de Beber, clapping along to Allen Toussaint’s Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky and sharing a new, unrecorded song titled Black American Heart.

It was a beautiful evening for the eyes, the ears and the soul as Madeleine Peyroux and her band reminding us that, indeed, ‘there is no music without you”.

Marty Duda

Click on any icon to view a gallery from each artist. All photos by Veronica McLaughlin Photography

Click here to watch the 13th Floor Interview with Madeleine Peyroux

Madeleine Peyroux

Nick Dow

Holy Trinity Cathedral

Note from the photographer: Trinity Cathedral is such a magical place – I couldn’t resist getting a few beauty shots before and during the show. I had to share them!

Madeleine Peyroux set list:

1. (Getting Some) Fun Out Of Life
2. You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
3. Don’t Cry Baby
4. Don’t Wait Too Long
5. J’ai Deux Amours
6. Black American Heart
7. Dance Me To The End Of Love
8. I Hear Music
9. No More
10. Aqua de Beber
11. Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky
12. There’ll BE Some Changes Made
13. The Lonesome Road
14. Careless Love
15. This Is Heaven To Me