KITA
7th October 2023
Paisley Stage, Napier, New Zealand
Review by Rob Harbers, historical file photograph by Tim Gruar.
Poneke’s KITA last night visited the hallowed ground of Napier’s coolest little music venue™, Paisley Stage. They offered those gathered therein the opportunity to “dance out the bad shit” in the words of their effervescent frontperson Nikita Tu-Bryant. An opportunity grasped enthusiastically by many, including a renowned sexagenarian impresario of these parts, exorcising the demons with which the region has been beset!
The night was opened by the gorgeous harmonies and instrumental interplay of The Cellars, with Sinead and Bella’s beautiful tunes being the perfect introduction to proceedings. Their brief set was comprised of mostly original material, with an interesting cover or two thrown in to the mix. Meditations on the kindness of some strangers, and the arseholery of others, made for a thoroughly charming bijou performance, one displaying the growth and development this duo are continually going through. And, bonus, they’re also a pair of beautiful souls!
Opening rites dispensed with, Nikita and compadres Ed Zuccollo and Rick Cranson entered the arena, an atmospheric keyboard intro from Ed kicking off the soulful “Under the Orange Moon”. This showed the power of Nikita’s voice early on, setting up audience expectation for the treats to ensue. A rapid change of pace and intensity then followed, with the funked-up “Kites” allowing Nikita to let rip with large amounts of beautifully chunky 70’s influenced guitar, bringing a few more souls on to the dance floor.
These two songs between them provided a preview of the rest of the night, one traversing between the poles of blissful soul and funky rock’n’roll, played by an impressively tight combo. Funk soul brothas (and sister) indeed! It was mentioned that the band find it difficult to define their sound, such being it’s diversity, but a starting point would be 21st Century Soul, grounded by history while looking to the future. Or perhaps Retro-Moderne Funky Shit. Whatever the nomenclature though, it’s fuckin’ tight and played just right!
New song “Pieces of You” displayed its Ed-approved arrangement, before the combination of high-def mikes and an enraptured audience at the intro of “Breathe” suggested a possible sideline for Nikita in the ASMR field (you had to be there, I guess!). This all led in to the afore-mentioned opportunity to “Dance away the bad shit”, of which there’s no shortage in this toxic season. This opportunity was grasped by a large portion of the crowd, while the more terpsichorially-challenged of us were dancing on the inside! This section also saw the unicorn moment of a drum solo that was neither boring, nor outstanding of its welcome – such is the skill of the manic sticksman Rick Cranson.
The loss of one of Ed’s notes on his beautiful Fender Rhodes caused a brief bout of consternation, but a quick revisit to his OG instrument will rectify that for the rest of the tour, and will enable the continued search for the Pure and Easy note of myth and legend. This shortage had no impact, however, on his ability to show off an impressive mastery of his instruments in the extended workout of “Unsheltered” that constituted the outro to the show, in which the Moog and the Rhodes were skilfully exploited to a joyful extent.
Having left it all on the stage, the band then retired having dutifully impressed their audience, and leaving them awaiting a return engagement. The tour has only a few more dates left, including the hometown finale on election night – if you’re in the vicinity, what better way to either (worst case scenario) commiserate over the imminent demise of Aotearoa under a Koalition of Kaos, or (best case scenario) celebrate an un-foretold exhibition of sanity by the voting public? And if not this time around, they’ll be out there again one day – catch them if you at all can, you won’t be disappointed!
And on a final note, get out and vote if you haven’t already! And do it wisely!!
Were you there at Paisley Stage for this high energy gig? Or have you seen KITA perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
Note: Ambient Light was provided a pass 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.
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