Horrorshow
30th November 2019
Galatos, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review and Photography by Richard Myburgh.
It’s never been a secret that I’m super into Aussie barbecue rap. My teenage angst in 2010 middle-class suburbia was channelled into Hilltop Hoods, Illy, Seth Sentry and especially, Horrorshow.
I headed into this gig just hoping for them to belt out ‘The Rain’ from their 2009 album Inside Story. They absolutely delivered on that hope, and it went hard, but what I expected to be a nostalgia trip turned out to be a really lovely expression of artistic and personal growth. To be clear, Galatos went hunneds; Horrorshow is an amazing live act and they rark up a crowd better than an egg to an Australian senator’s head. If you have the opportunity to see them live, I 100% recommend it.
The night started with Auckland party bangers, Eleven7four. Even though they’re quickly becoming local staples I haven’t seen them live before, and yeah, they’re absolutely one to watch for. They’ve managed to convince me that a ticket to Laneway 2020 is worth it. They started to a pretty dead room, with Aucklanders clinging to the sides like we do. Eleven7four did a banger of a job energising the crowd. In between ‘Down Under’ and ‘Do It’, they told their fans “we’re playing like there’s a million fucking people” and they sure as hell did. By the end of their set they had the now solid crowd chanting “one more song, one more song”. They managed to flip a potentially awkward Auckland gig into a proper raucous night.
Then Horrorshow took the stage, launching right into ‘King Amongst Many’ from their 2013 album of the same name. Following it up with ‘Astray’ and ‘No Rides Left’ (an absolute classic) they set the mood. They weren’t here to fuck spiders, and they weren’t here to take themselves too seriously; they brought their A game, following up with ‘Grain by Grain’ from their newest album, New Normal.
Solo was bouncing across the stage in full Air Max and baseball cap regalia, reaching out to the crowd and drawing them in. Adit was no slouch either on the decks, burning more calories than most people would in a year. Then they played ‘Walk You Home’, with Adit on electric guitar. Good God I wasn’t ready. Galatos changed from a music venue to a house gig.
Everyone in the room was a mate of a mate, and Horrorshow were playing for each and every person individually. Adit might as well have asked me how my mum’s kitchen reno was going.
I haven’t really followed Horrorshow for about five years now. I never stopped liking them, I was just listening to different music. I’m really pleased to say that Horrorshow has evolved in a beautiful way. They definitely aren’t ‘barbecue rap’ anymore; their music has changed as they have. You really get the sense that the entire Horrorshow project is just Adit and Solo being completely honest with who they are, and who they were when they wrote a song.
Adit and Solo have both been through a lot of shit these past few years, and I’m sorry for them. Their newest record, New Normal, completely reflects how their lives have changed because of it. I wish they didn’t have to go through everything they did to produce this album, but they’ve turned a crap situation into a really heartfelt and genuine expression of who they are as artists and people. It’s introspective, and it feels like a resolution (but definitely not a conclusion).
The takeaway isn’t that Horrorshow is a great live act, or that they can get a crowd moving. They absolutely are those things, but most of all they’re earnest people making authentic music. They’ve always put themselves out there, done their mahi. No matter how goofy and aloof they play, it’s vulnerable.
When Horrorshow makes Galatos feel like a backyard gig it isn’t just because of their performance style, it’s because everything about them is just so damn genuine.
Were you there at Galatos for this good times Barbecue Hip Hop show Or have you seen Horrorshow perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- King Amongst Many
- Astray
- No Rides Left
- Grain by Grain
- Take A Walk on the Wild Side/Can I Kick It? [Lou Reed/A Tribe Called Quest cover]
- How We Get Down
- All Summer Long
- Monkey Bars
- In My Haze
- Walk You Home
- If You Know What I Mean
- The Rain
- New Normal
- Rescue
- Not Many [Scribe cover]
- Eyes Closed
- Cherry Blossom
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