Portugal. The Man – Powerstation May 8, 2018

Portugal. The Man served up an exhilarating mashup for the ears and the eyes last night at Auckland’s Powerstation.

Kiwi singer Theia got things started as fans began filling up the iconic venue for this sold out show.  It might seem like an unlikely pairing, but Theia and her dreamy r&b went over well. She’s definitely got something going on, but I did think that her songs started to sound a bit samey. It seems like she’s just waiting for that one breakthrough song.

The five members of Portugal. The Man (PTM) finally took the stage after what seemed like an extended amount of time.

But they were well worth the wait.

The show began with an animated Beavis & Butthead clip with the duo making snide comments about the band while comparing them to The Beatles and The Stones.

It turns out those comparisons were relevant as PTM did mix in snippets of songs from both bands along with a few other auditory surprises.

All five members (Zach Carothers/bass, Eric Howk/guitar, Kyle O’Quin/keys, Jason Sechrist/drums and frontman John Gourley/vocals and guitar) were sporting baseball caps except Gourley, who was working a wool hat.

They immediately launched into Metallica’s For Whom The Bell Tolls which eventually segued into Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall and eventually came around to their own Purple Yellow Red And Blue.

By the time they finished with that opening salvo, 12 minutes had passed and it was clear that anything could happening during this show.

In addition to the music, there were plenty of eye-catching visuals to take in being projected on the band and behind them, many took the form of computer generated bodies morphing in strange and fascinating ways in time to the music.

The five musicians proved over the course of their set to play just about anything, from hard-hitting rock to more delicate indie to flashes of hip hop and soul.

They also threw plenty more classic rock tunes  into the mix including The Stones’ Gimme Shelter, T Rex’ Children Of The Revolution and The Beatles’  I Want You (She’s So Heavy). I’m sure I even caught a few bars of Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath at the end of Modern Jesus.

The epic performance of the night had to be All Your Light (Time Like These) which took the audience on a musical journey that seemed to go everywhere…eventually landing at The Beatles. Much of the middle section reminded me of classic 70s prog rock bands such as Yes at their most creative and least ponderous.

After playing Grammy Award winning song Feel It Still, the band finished the set with another epic…this time Sleep Forever from their 2011 album, In The Mountain In The Cloud, which once again finished with a Beatles tune, this time Hey Jude, with everyone singing along.

The band returned to play three more songs and comment on how much they enjoyed spending the day out on the Auckland harbour. During the show, they rarely spoke, instead having comments appear on the screen behind them.

My one criticism would be the garbled nature of John Gourley’s vocals, making his lyrics almost indecipherable during the show. I’m not sure if this was because of his delivery, the amount of effects on his voice or the mix, but I would have liked to have been able to hear and understand him better.

Other than that, Portugal. The Man put on a show as epic and classic as the bands they so obviously admire.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Reuben Raj:

Portugal. The Man set list:

1. For Whom The Bell Tolls/Another Brick In The Wall Pt.2/Purple Yellow Read And Blue
2. Number One
3. Live In The Moment
4. Creep In A T-Shirt/Children Of The Revolution
5. Atomic Man/Gimme Shelter
6. Modern Jesus
7. All Your Light (Times Like These)/I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
8. Feel It Still
9. Sleep Forever/Hey Jude
10. Noise Pollution
11. Hip Hop Kids
12. Holy Roller (Hallelujah)