Pluto, Basque Park, 15 February 2020: Concert Review

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Pluto treated a small crowd of Aucklanders to an afternoon of free music, face painting and a bouncy castle in Basque Park, organised by Auckland Council.

It was a scorching Saturday afternoon at Basque Park and Pluto played to a small crowd of mostly families who ventured out to enjoy the afternoon of free music. Talking to Marty Duda a couple of weeks prior, Milan Borich and Tim Arnold swore they would bring the rain to Uptown Sounds, but for the first time it didn’t rain during their outdoor set, even though Auckland desperately needed it.

The band started off to a slightly suboptimal start coming out silent for a good minute after being introduced by the event MC. I was sitting up the back on the hill at this point so couldn’t see the issue, but assume it was technical. This would’ve been a perfect opportunity for front man Milan Borich to energise the crowd with a greeting. Even a “hey Auckland good to see you” would’ve sufficed, but instead they kicked into their latest single Oh My Lonely without bothering with introductions. A guy sitting to the side of me wasn’t too impressed with this start, screaming “Come on Pluto sort it out!’”

Next they played Waiting Watching, then their biggest hit to date Long White Cross which got a few dancers up to the front. When I say a few, there was defiantly more kids reveling in playing and sliding down the hill on the Norwich Street side of the park than a stage crowd at that point. I was jealous of the girl of five or six repeatedly sliding down that hill as I didn’t have the guts to be the adult to do what looked like the most fun to be had of the day.

The sound quality was lacking sitting on the hill so I made my way down to the front for Stick With It, Lonely Fall, Hey There Little, and Rainbow Blood. It was still too quiet up the front, Milan’s mic needed to be turned up. Milan, Tim (guitar, vocals), Michael Franklin-Browne (drums), Mike Hall (bass guitar, vocals), and Matthias Jordan (keyboards, vocals) delivered a proficient show but their stage presence was ordinary. I was asking myself whether that was due to the lack of large crowd, or the band still finding their feet performing together again. I wasn’t convinced that they fully believed in a Pluto revival from this performance. The band is undoubtedly talented, and they make fantastic music videos. I’d love to see them translate their quirky aesthetic visual language from their videos into their stage performance.

Pluto have reformed after a 10 year hiatus as a band, releasing their fourth album IV late last year. IV was mostly written before the band split in 2009, but released and recorded in 2019. I have never seen Pluto play live, but I did buy Pipeline Under The Ocean (2005) back in the day after falling in love with the single Dance Stamina. Just when I thought I was going to be out of luck seeing them perform what I consider to be their masterpiece, they thrilled me and the rest of the crowd with Dance Stamina, which had increased to at least 50 people now dancing front of stage. Their goodbye was as lackluster as their entrance, although they did then come back to perform another new old song (their term) Alight as the encore.

Overall it was a nice day out for the family in the park, but I would have preferred to see Pluto perform at their best in an indoor venue. Pluto is currently working on a album of new material, so I look forward to hearing what they come up with, and the live performance they can bring to the stage with it. I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

~Andy Baker

All photos by Andy Baker

Andy Baker
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