Benee + The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
30th July 2021
Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand.
Reviewed by Tim Gruar. Feature photograph kindly supplied by Garry Thomas/Muzic.net.nz.
Is the occasion of playing your material accompanied by the National Orchestra a career pinnacle? For many, like Phoenix Foundation and Goldenhorse, it certainly was. Yet they are accomplished artists, capable of complex, experimental and diverse compositions. That’s not really what Stella Bennett, aka Benee, is about. Enter arranger/composer Claire Cowan to elevate benee’s light touch pixie pop in to an all round sensory overload of drama and magic. Couple it with the NZSO and light the fuse. What you get are day-glo fireworks, fun times and “fantastic-ness”.
Although you wouldn’t have realised it, the members of the NZSO were in no hurry, swaggering on stage in twos and threes as the audience drifted in to take their seats. Like guests at a dinner party looking for a quiet spot after a good meals’ end they moved into place with a relaxed air, chatty ambience and few mischievous grins. It was clear that this was going to be a night of frivolity, far from the usual haughty high end art events they often do.
The audience was reflective of all those that have been won over by Benee’s coquettish persona in the last couple of years. As expected, it was a real mix – the older ones, grandparents and parents, all in their finest jackets, pashminas and jeans; the youngest boppers sporting their new cartoon benee hoodies from the merch stand downstairs. But there were plenty of others too, covering every age, all keen to see what will happen when Pop goes Classical. Techno goes Orchestral. Or something like that.
We started promptly at 8.30pm, with conductor Brent Stewart on the podium opening a programme, he told us, that was inspired by dance music. That included a few well worn pieces from the NZSO’s usual palette, including a track from “El sombrero de tres picos” (a ballet set to Spaniard Manuel de Falla’s music the “Three Cornered Hat”); a sample of Ravel’s “Rigaudon”; and three snippets from Bizet’s Carmen, concluding with the swirling, mesmerising gypsy “Dance Boheme”. It was a short and sweet taster for any one not familiar with an orchestra. For many tonight, this could have been their first time in a concert hall. And certainly, it was the first time I’d seen this many musicians (66 plus Benee’s band) crowded on to a stage in these post Covid times. This was a delightful opening set, a real choccy box cover. Shame it didn’t feature any Kiwi composers, like Gareth Farr, Jack Body, John Psathas or even something from Ron Goodwin’s hugely popular “New Zealand Suite”.
Arranger Claire Cowan deserves a fair chunk of credit for her work reinventing tonight’s Benee pieces for the NZSO. Cowan is at the forefront of composition in Aotearoa. She’s already garnered two Silver Scroll nominations for work on the TV series soundtrack on “Hillary”, and an APRA Professional Development Award for Film and TV Music. And she was the first woman ever to produce a score for the Royal New Zealand Ballet – “Hansel and Gretel” (subsequently recorded with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra last year). She also writes and performs chamber music and directs the Blackbird Ensemble – a vagabond chamber orchestra making stimulating visual and theatrical musical experiences for non-traditional spaces.
Tonight we saw glimpses of all that peaking through the cracks of these new arrangements of Benee’s songs. Like the opener “Happen to Me” which was given a ‘magical’ treatment, with accents from wind chimes, feather light violin strings, distant rumbling timpani.
Dressed in an ostentatiously over-the-top canary yellow Babushka wedding doll dress, complete with a modernised kokoshnik, bejewelled stockings and high heel sneakers Ms Bennett herself nervously sauntered on. Her full-length costume was highly impractical for the tiny space afforded to her, as she cramped in amongst her fellow musicians. Still, that wasn’t going to stop her playing up the situation by imitating ballerinas from the Nutcracker and talking to the audience in a range of hilarious and bizarre ‘foreign’ accents. Throughout the evening she joked, with a spot of self deprecation, about the ‘importance of the evening’. Her banter was both awkward and delightful. She was a genuine crack up. Every observation made was a gag and I don’t think she even realised she was doing it.
I’m not sure who recommended Benee wear this huge, frilly, ribbon dress but I’m sure they’d be horrified when she started ripping off small glass “jewels” and rhinestones from her nether-clothing and throwing them into the audience.
For the livelier tunes, she bops and poses, looking a bit awkward and restricted by the lack of space. But during the slow ones where most artists would perch on a stool, Benee just plops down. She curls her legs up on the floor, like it’s a 60’s ‘sit-in’ to perform a wonderfully lush, slow, and ethereal “Glitter”. Her delivery is almost spontaneous, a playful, cute and very childlike performance. Everybody in the first four rows are melting under her spell. All that was missing were the singing birds from “Ever After”.
Cowan had intentionally added a few smatterings of Disney into many of her arrangements, which really added additional colour and vape to the originally sparse productions. For instance, she took “Find An Island” from a simple ompa to a full blown cartoon sea shanty. Everyone in my row was swaying in time, enjoying the moment. An older patron thought this would be great addition to the next round of “Last Night of The Proms”. But only if Benee was on hand to sing it.
Between songs Benee continues her random banter. She comments on the angle of the front row seats – “Like being at the movies, you have to slouch down to see the screen, proper,” she quips in a faux Yorkshire accent. Then she reaches out to touch hands of the peeps. “People pay good money, give them what they want, go on Dylan (Clark),” she calls to her guitarist, “touch hands with the front row! Ewww.” “Hope you sanitise,” someone shouts back.
You can see conductor Brent Stewart was also loving this diversion from his day job, grinning from ear to ear and making small ‘off camera’ asides to Benee. Probably cues to stay on track with the programme. All light hearted. And she can’t help a jibe or two – “We love Brent. He’s so helpful!” Truth be known. Benee and her band have moved fast in their career, from unknowns to superstar household names. So, playing with an orchestra for anyone still in their early 20’s would be an awesome experience. And full credit. The band performed well. I loved the dialogue Felix Holton had with the percussion section, allowing their various individual voices to chime in regularly and reinvent, rather than just enhance.
It was clear that Cowan’s arrangements weren’t just simple synth washes over the familiar. Tempos changed, timings and accents, even guitars were replaced with strings. Occasionally, Clark and Kelly were drowned out a bit by the orchestra’s awesome power, especially on “Happen To Me”. Even Benee gets a bit overpowered. Then there were sublime moments like “Night Garden”.
There are big horns and a locomotive-rumbling timpani groove on “Soaked”. When she breaks in te reo, the room goes mental. We love this, in the Capital.
By now the floor-length hem of her dress is becoming a real distraction and benee starts to fling it about. “I’m super classy”, she notes, “exposing her stocking ankles and flinging more ‘jewels’ about.
We get a couple of pretty neat covers. The first is James Blake and Scott Travis’ “Mile High”. “I’m a huge fan girl”. By her own admission “It’s not as good as the original.” Actually, I think it was better. Dreamy washes, swelling but subtle stings and Benee’s voice was on point. Actually, a bit of a highlight. The cheering at the end confirmed it.
The second, was a very Bond-like rendition of “Back To Black”. More towering horns, percussion, stabbing strings and dark patches from the oboes and cellos. Although Benee can’t pull it off like Winehouse, she did pretty well, capturing the spirit of the song. Playing Shirley Bassey on stage was definitely a first.
Also, a first performance of “C U”, a quiet, acoustic start then Tiare Kelly struts her stuff playing a beautiful solo on a sitar during “Blu”. Combined with further lush strings it was a gorgeous version. Better than the record. That really blew me away. What a treat.
Cowan can help herself, opting for a sexy, sultry 50’s twee opening for “Snail”. It reminded me of the treatment given to Goldenhorse’s “American Wife”.
To finish up, Brent Stewart announces that he’s particularly “excited” to rip into this complex and delicious intro to “Supalonely”. It’s a layered with every instrument going off in unison and individual directions. Dramatic, cinematic, intentionally over the top. “Then I ruin it,” Benee quips. “I always do that.” No, she doesn’t. It goes off. And what’s more it’s ‘supa-fun’. You can see everyone on stage is have a great time jamming the track. There’s a great deal of humour and conviviality.
Tonight was not the Mobil Song contest. This was not some diva in a meringue blasting away with her high-pitched soprano vox. It didn’t matter that Benee’s vocals couldn’t always match the power of the NZSO. Tonight was about having fun and having a laugh. Perhaps there was a secret agenda to introduce new ears to the magic and sorcery of a full live orchestra. In the car, heading home, I remembered being ten years old and the wonder of seeing Dame Edna reading “Peter and the Wolf” backed by the NZSO. How that awesome moment got me hooked on seeing musicians live – any band, any show, any gig. Perhaps tonight was a bit of a new gateway drug for those new listeners and Benee fans. I hope so.
Were you there at the Michael Fowler Centre for this brilliant night of orchestral pop? Or have you seen Benee perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Set List:
Performed in the first half by NZSO, conducted by Brent Stewart
- Selection form Manuel de Falla’s “Three Cornered Hat”;
- Ravel’s “Rigaudon”; and
- Bizet’s “Carmen”
Performed in the second half by NZSO conducted by Brent Stewart, Benee and band
- Happen to Me
- Glitter
- Find An Island
- Same Effect
- Night Gardn
- Soaked
- Sheesh
- Mile High [James Blake, Travis Scott, Metro Boomin – cover]
- CU
- Blu
- Back to Black [Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson – cover]
- Snail
- Supalonely
Note: CRS Management provided passes to Ambient Light to review this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.
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