Ones To Watch: Will Swinton, Spencer Coyle & Frankie Venter: Tuning Fork – January 26, 2024

Will Swinton, Spencer Coyle and Frankie Venter were the Ones To Watch at Auckland’s Tuning Fork this Friday night. And 13th Floor photographer Chris Zwaagdyk was ready with his trusty camera!

The evening started off bright and early with17 year old Frankie Venter who hails from Mt. Maunganui. Frankie just released her new single, Leyla, the day before so she was keen to treat her fans to a live version of the new tune.

Click on any image to view a photo gallery of Frankie Venter:

After a short intermission, the young crowd was treated to 18 year old Spencer Coyle. Coyle, who is from Auckland, was ‘discovered’ by Six60’s Ji Fraser and is now signed to Massive Records/Sony.  Spencer came armed with a couple of new songs. Don’t Wake Me Up and It’s Not Like You, the latter getting its live debut. He also served up his own versions of Jimmie Allen’s Best Shot and The Killers’ Mr. Brightside. 

Click on any image to view a photo gallery of Spencer Coyle:

By now the audience was pumped and at 9:30 Will Swinton (age 22) took the stage with his drummer (Kerry Ingram) and guitarist (Jimmy James Mac) along with a backing track or two. Will’s got new material and he was keen to show it off. We got two new songs and then the latest single, Harmless, which was, as Will said, “a fresh one”.

He and the band dialed it back a bit for So Low and All For You...both from the Better Days EP and then charged up the crowd with a cover of Kings Of Leon’s Revelry.

From there it was all on. The crowd sang along with Leave In The Morning, Wasted You and Daydream. We heard how Will met Machine Gun Kelly in an Idaho bar before the too-short set came to a close.

Click on any image to view a photo gallery of Will Swinton:

As advertised, these three were definitely Ones To Watch (and listen to).

Marty Duda