When we were young

Listening to: The Radio.
Last night I indulged in Time Travel. For such an awfully acousiticated (is that even a word?) venue, the Queens Wharf Events Centre (which it will be, regardless of what TSB labels it) somehow manages to have character. Of a sort.

We arrived halfway through Pluto's set, and for an act that sounds pretty polished on radio, they were curiously uninvolving live. The Muttonbirds were the same. Great studio sound, but kinda boring on stage.

This was demonstrated by Supergroove, who within thirty seconds of starting their first song (Next Time), had blown Pluto completely off the stage, beaten them up with their guitars and horns, jumped up and down on their twitching bodies, and then backed over some pizza with a car and made them eat it. The difference between the two in terms of stage prescence was like night and day.

Che Fu and Karl Stevens make for one of the oddest front pairings I have ever seen, yet somehow they are perfectly complementary. Supergroove looked nothing like an act that has been in the wilderness for more than a decade. For a few moments I was 18 again, in the front row on a hot summer evening in January 1995 at Mountain Rock, sharing a badly mixed rum and coke (in a plastic coke bottle) with some guy I had just met, caught up in the moment, as the band started their set with 'You Freak Me'. For a while in the mid 90's, it felt like Supegroove was the default party soundtrack, and seeing them play again brought back a lot of excellent memories of good times. Like a lot of punters, for me seeing Supergroove again was almost as much of a draw to the gig as seeing Crowded House. It was a Crowded House gig, but the T-shirt I bought was the Supergroove one.

Crowded House played a free gig in Palmerston North on Waitangi Day 1995 or 96. I had the opportunity to go, didn't, and rued it. While their recorded work is brilliant, if a little 'safe' feeling at times, they built their reputation largely as a live act, and I didn't want to miss out this time. Like Supergroove, they didn't disappoint. While Paul Hester will forever haunt the stage and always be missed, the new drummer Matt Sherrod brings a different prescence and feel to the classic tracks. Live the songs are punchier and rockier, and just as good. The mix of old and new material was good, in a set that lasted over two hours. No complaints about value for money. And the reputation is deserved. They are a really good live act, involving and acknowledging the crowd, jamming, improvising, telling stories, trading banter. After all this time, it was nice to see one of my longest term favourite bands for the first time (I've seen various Finn combinations before, but never Crowded House).

While the venue isn't that great (honestly, the sound quality really sucks. When its not echoing its reverberating), I've been to a few really good gigs there. That is where the character comes from perhaps. A hair product meltingly hot night in February 1998, right in the mosh pit for Pearl Jam. A somewhat milder evening in 1996, with Billy Corgan's curious "I'm gonna stay on stage after the rest of the band has gone and tune my guitar for ten minutes while ignoring the crowd" finale to a Smashing Pumpkins concert. A mellow and chilled out viewing from the higher seats for Ben Harper. Some retard casting doubts on my manliness for wearing earplugs at Audioslave.

I love a good gig. The crowd singing along, the roar of recognition when the opening chords of a favourite ring out, the vibe, the atmosphere, hopefully the band having a good time, watching how the music is created, the whole thing. There are few things better than seeing and hearing your favourite music played in your prescence by those that created it.