Reviews

10 January 2002 Nelson Concert

Road test a sign of good things to come

Original content sourced from www.stuff.co.nz.

Reported by: Barbara Dunn

Source:         Nelson Mail

Website:       www.stuff.co.nz

Venue:       Theatre Royal, Nelson, N.Z.

Date:         Thursday, January 10, 2002

Playlist:   

Not available

Gig commentary:

Bic Runga is at last on the way to delivering a new album, and part of that album's gestation took place in Nelson last night.

Runga is doing an impromptu mini-tour, with stops in her home town of Christchurch, then Nelson, with two more gigs to go in Wellington, to give the songs she is working on a "road test" before heading into the studio later this year.

Last night's show started with the title track from her first album Drive, before heading off up country with a new number, The B All and End All.

Runga said the aim of the tour was "to figure out how to sing her new songs", and it was apparent from the start that she is still feeling her way around the country sound. But even before she donned her harmonica, the influence of the likes of Neil Young was showing through.

Runga later said she had been listening to a fair bit of Young, before showing us what a girl with a voice can do to one of his hits with her excellent rendition of Four Strong Winds.

Being able to admit to listening to country shows a certain maturity, and it seems that Runga, who hasn't produced a new album since her 1997 debut, has been off indulging in some growth.

Not all of the new songs have this country influence, and some, like Get Some Sleep, sound like they're destined to become very familiar very soon.

Runga's Nelson concert showed she has still got a bit of work to do, but what she has so far is a bunch of hits in the making; her voice is fabulous and it's all just waiting to be arranged and packaged.

It was a pleasure to experience Runga's work in progress, and I can't wait to see what she does with these songs, because last night's taste of where she is exploring shows all the signs of evolving into an exciting new album.

Contemporary music course graduate Jessica Chambers took the stage first and showed she too has a fantastic voice, making easy work of some very high notes, but at the same time setting herself a hard task on the guitar.