The Feel Good Service – Ponsonby Social Club: July 2, 2023

0

The Feel Good Service brought the funk to Ponsonby Social Club last night, and those who braved the elements found that their efforts paid off in spades.

The Feel Good Service is the duo of Kiwi Lucy Graves and American Andre (Mo’Dre) Brown. Their sound is vintage funk…Prince, Rick James, Ohio Players…and their vibe is sweet and sexy.

Saylene

SayleneThe cozy Ponsonby Social Club is filling up nicely and when opening act Saylene take to the stage we understand why…there are eight musicians squeezed on….four female vocalists (including Saylene) and a four piece band behind them (drums, bass, guitar and keys)

Saylene is Saylene Tanielu-Ulberg and that’s her hubby, Pat Tanielu on the drums. Keeping it in the family, that’s her son, Mahaani Maiava on guitar.

SayleneThe seven-song, 35-minute set feels like more than a warmup…this already sounds like a co-headline gig with Saylene and band providing sweet soulful sounds…think 70s vibes such and The Emotions or Minnie Riperton.

And impressively, the set is all originals starting with Daybreak and including the single Empire (find it under Saylene Tanielu-Ulberg.

Saylene gave Pat some good-natured ribbing and he laid down a solid beat. New song Sisterhood (soon to be released) was another highlight thanks to the wonderful harmonies and the sassy attitude. In fact, the set ended with a song called Atitude and there was plenty of that in the house.

The Feel Good Service

The Feel Good ServiceIt wasn’t long before Lucy and Mo’Dre took their places behind the mics and the band kicked in with a rousing fanfare and then into their debut single, Karma. I’m not sure who the drummer was, the keyboard player is Pete (who also sat in with Saylene, but the bass player is the formidably funky Marika Hodgson who we know from her work with Kora and Troy Kingi (among many others). Meanwhile Mo’Dre is on electric guirr and Lucy is playing Keytar.

The Feel Good ServiceAfter the shimmering, simmering funk/soul of Playing With Fire, The Feel Good Service proudly show off their inspiration with a version of Prince’s 1999…and later we get Kiss!

By the time we get to Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, dancing has been encouraged and there are some serious moves going down in front of the stage.

New single Hands get a play as does Janelle Monae’s Make Me Feel (which segues into a quick Kiss).

Lucy is working up a sweat and so is the crowd. After Feel For You we get one more tune…Michael Jackson’s P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing) and then it’s back out into the cold.

It was good to be warm while it lasted!

Marty Duda

The Feel Good Service setlist:

  1. Intro/Karma
  2. Playing With Fire
  3. 1999
  4. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
  5. Funk
  6. Livin’ It Up
  7. Hands
  8. Got What I Like
  9. Make Me Feel/Kiss
  10. Carnival
  11. Feel For You
  12. Y.T (Pretty Young Thing)

 

Saylene setlist:

  1. Daybreak
  2. Less
  3. Empire
  4. Waiting On You
  5. Identity
  6. Sisterhood
  7. Atitude

 

 

Marty Duda
Latest posts by Marty Duda (see all)