Gaz Coombes, Auckland NZ, 2018

Gaz Coombes

17th September 2018
The Tuning Fork, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Alexis Brook. Photography by Megs Moss.

Last night Kiwis were treated to a fabulous show from not one, but two skilled singer-songwriters. The venue really suited this kind of intimate solo performance and you felt it was like a lazy Sunday chilling with friends instead of a Monday evening after a busy day at work.

Opening the evening was New Zealand’s own Samuel Flynn Scott of ‘Bunnies on Ponies’ and ‘The Phoenix Foundation’ fame. Covering several songs from across all his projects, the crowd were delighted with tracks including ‘Bitte, Bitte’, ‘Black Mark’, ‘Morning Pages’ and ‘All my Dreams” We were also introduced to a new Phoenix Foundation song ‘Venus in Transit’, where he commented if you weren’t at the recent Town Hall concert that “you will love this song more when the album is finished; maybe this year; maybe next” much to the crowds delight. Samuel noted it was nice to be supporting Gaz, an artist he’s been trying to rip off for 25 years, as the crowd chortled. Exclaiming that he is not one to usually plug his merchandise, the crowd was encouraged to buy one of his albums tonight, as unfortunately Gaz’s merch didn’t make it so the crowd ‘might as well go home with something’. Good sell, Sam, Good sell.

The set closed with a suberb performance of ‘Give Up Your Dreams’. The skillful way Samuel uses his reverb microphone to support and enhance his vocals is testament to his comfort onstage and I look forward to future solo performances and the release of the next Phoenix Foundation album.

As the house lights faded across the Tuning Fork stage and the crowd shuffled forwards, the man of the evening Mr Gaz Coombes entered from side-stage opening with ‘Oscillate’ from his second solo album ‘Matador’. Gaz is a captivating solo performer. I love attending these kinds of intimate concerts and enjoy seeing interaction artists have with crowds who are close enough to touch. Gaz interacts with the crowd like close friends, and it’s a lovely atmosphere. “Good to see you Gaz!” exclaims one punter, while Gaz replies “You too! Even though I can’t…”

It’s been about 18 years since Gaz performed in New Zealand with Supergrass (yes – that band, the one that we were all grooving to during the invasion of Brit indie pop in the 90s), and it’s a thrill to have him back on our side of the world.

Tracks such as ‘Shit (I’ve done it again)’ highlight the freedom in both mood and creativity that a solo performance gives with his bandmates ‘Victoria the VT1’, ‘Sebastian the Space Echo’, and ‘The Blue Box’, on which Gaz samples random environmental noises he finds.

It has been a long tour so far for this album (kicking off around April earlier this year) but his vocals are still album perfect. Credit must also go to the sound engineering team, for making a live performance sound like its coming off the shelf.

Gaz now leaves the Southern Hemisphere of this album tour and is off to LA where he excitedly announces that he will be on The Late Late Show with James Corden. When asked what he was going to sing, Gaz replied “I’m not I sure if I can tell you…. Oh fuck it! I think I might do Deep Pockets!”. So sneak peak – you heard it here first – Gaz WILL be on The Late Late Show with James Corden in the next week — Let’s see if he does indeed sing Deep Pockets!.

As Gaz left stage, the applause turned into clapping, stamping and yelling of “We Want Gaz” or was it ‘We Love Gaz” either way the crowd was absolutely thrilled to be there and wanted MORE! Returning to stage, we are treated a four encore set of recent single, ‘The Oaks’, followed by ‘Matador’ and a couple of singalong Supergrass hits ‘Moving’ and ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ which were definite crowd pleasers. Even though this tour was specifically to support his third album ‘The World’s Strongest Man’ it was a joy to hear tracks from across his discography.

It’s so pleasing to see someone who is really engaged with his fans and followers and made some time for a meet and greet, after shaking hands of those at front stage. The American leg of the tour is another 2 1/2 weeks and following that he returns back to tour the UK and then Europe through October – not much rest but when you’re doing what you love the jetlag is worth it. We hope to see Gaz and his electronic bandmates on New Zealand’s shores again soon.

Were you there at The Tuning Fork for this brilliant alt-rock gig? Or have you seen Gaz Coombes perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

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