Living Colour
11th May 2017
Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Mark Derricutt.
A grotty evening’s weather didn’t stop throngs of old heads coming out in force for the 80s and 90s metal, alternative, funk and blues fusion pioneers Living Colour when they rocked into Auckland’s Powerstation this week.
Kicking off the bill with New Zealand’s premium instrumental metal outfit, Heavy Metal Ninjas, the venue was pretty roomy to begin with as the smattering of dudes milling about floating on the scent of beersies and damp clothes from the outside downpour as Toots and The Maytals 54-46 seeped from the PA and was cut short by the glorious arrival of maestro Richie Allan and his ninjas to the strains of their video game styled, operatic entry music.
Then BOOM. The assembled had no choice but to surrender their cochlea’s to this most formidable band of not so merry men. As my teeth rattled in my skull and my vision shook from by eyeballs vibrating in their sockets, Heavy Metal Ninjas move as one lurching and churning as Richie regards the crowd with an icy glare as he manipulates the sweetest notes from his weapon of choice. Amid the soaring soundscapes and introspective moody dips; Richie is in total absorption of the riff he’s creating for us as he leans back, gently shaking his head and blinking the sweat from his eyes. Ramping up the room, lifting us high on the tunes and then sonic boom dropping us on our heads, we’re physically moved by the auditory assault coming through the PA and the magnitude of heaviness coming through at the crowd.
As the flurries and dives encircle us, Richie goes to work double hand tapping on his fret board as the drums inform a propulsive groove that was so cinematic and uplifting the crowd could be forgiven for thinking they were at a Hans Zimmer gig; with the delicious tunes and their unique abilities to make you feel as if you’re hearing tunes from a movie you’ve always known; hopeful, emotional and climbing ever onward. Then comically, a stagehand dude appeared and tried to break through Richie’s opus, to let them know it was time to finish up the set. After three attempts at getting Richie’s attention, the kid awkwardly came up and tapped Richie on the shoulder; and as funny as it was, with that, Richie expertly looped back into the set of dives we’d just experienced, repelled out one more sonic bass boom and then just like that, the lads evacuated the stage to rapturous applause. No fuss, no muss, no banter, as the assembled are left tingling from the effects of the heaviness.
With the venue nice and packed out for the entrance of Living Colour; Corey Glover, Doug Wimbish, Vernon Reid and Will Calhoun enter the scene to much yelps and whoops of excitement as Corey addresses us, “Good Evening, it’s been a while huh?” as Vernon launches into a bluesy old Muddy Waters riff as we all get settled in and acquainted with each other with Vernon moving to a bash out of ‘Don’t Let No One Turn You Around’ as Corey unleashed his killer blues falsetto on us, leaning back and screaming at the ceiling. Moving into Wall from the 1993 album Stain, it really feels like it’s kicking off proper now as Corey does his jiggly little dance at front and centre stage, as the waft of sweet leaf permeates the air and Corey has a knowing smile with Vernon as they continue and Doug offers “Fuck Donald Trump” during the breakdown. As they finish that cut Doug lets us know it’s great to be back in Auckland, asking “Corey, when was the last time we were here?” “Too fucking long…” quips Corey “…a lot changed, not a lot of it good, but we’re going to change it, or burn it down and start all over again”
With that we’re treated to a wedge of tunes: ‘Middle Man’, ‘Desperate People’ and ‘Funny Vibe’, all from 1988’s Vivid, as Corey just fair opens his mouth and allows his precise wails to envelop us. Getting some crowd participation going on ‘Funny Vibe’ before a jetlagged Vernon loses place and is lovingly chided by his band mates. “We are experiencing some technical difficulties…” offered Doug, “In other words, Vernon fucked up” chuckles Corey. ‘Mind Your Own Business’ get the crowd shimmying and shaking before the conscious ‘Who Shot Ya’ from their 2016 EP release, studded with relevant audio samples illustrating the importance and the poignancy of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Taking a quick moment post-new-song to let us know, that the rumour that Living Colour are working on a new album is in fact true and we can expect it in September of this year, before Doug delightfully reminds us that Living Colour are experiencing some jetlagged induced irreverence and it matters not to us as we’re loving everything they give us. “We are in jet lag mode, we left our set list somewhere over the pacific. This is real music, in real time” laughed Doug. With that Doug’s left too it on stage for a moment as he loops and creates a mesmeric little skank and bass solo, just him front and centre onstage.
As the rest of Living Colour re-join Doug, we’re treated to ‘Elvis is Dead’ from 1990’s Time’s Up, followed by ‘Type’ and then the one a lot of us have been waiting for, ‘Cult of Personality’, albeit prefaced with a bit of anti-Trump sentiment; “We’ve got an orange man for President right now and although this song was written a long time ago, it really could be about him”, which left a punter in the throng screaming “Don’t stop, don’t stop! More!”
From there it was drummer extraordinaire Will Calhoun’s turn for a bit of a solo blast on the skins before the band arrived onstage once more as the crowd starts hurling requests at the stage and Corey whips us up into a bit of crowd participation of “What’s your favourite colour?” “Living Colour!” we all yell to which Corey was most pleased, letting us know that he thought it was the best he’s ever heard that call and repeat. Gold star for us.
This could be what’s considered the encore portion of the evening as we’re spoiled with a particularly fiery version of James Brown’s ‘Get on Up (Sex Machine)’ and a joyous run through of The Clash’s ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’. It all collapsed into a love fest with Vernon giving a special shout out to Heavy Metal Ninjas saying “Those boys play like they ain’t got no kids!” As Living Colour paused for a selfie with the Auckland crowd and received a piece of art from a hearty fan. Announcing that once they leave the stage, “…if you wanna wait around for 20 minutes we’ll come through and say hello” and thanked us, as they did so often during the night, with Corey saying “Thank you so much for coming out, it’s been 24 years since we’ve been here and this is the beginning of a whole trek for us and we couldn’t have started it better than here in Auckland, New Zealand with all of you”. Leaving us with one more round of free styling from Corey, affirming that “We are Living Colour, You are Living Colour, We are Living Colour” There’s that old saying, don’t call it a comeback and it’s very fitting to this evening as Living Colour demonstrates they’ve still got the chops and that you should be excited to hear the vehemence they’re going to spit on the new album come September.
Heavy Metal Ninjas:
Living Colour:
Were you there at Powerstation for this funk rock extravaganza? Or have you seen Living Colour live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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