Mr Bruce
13th February 2024
San Fran, Wellington, New Zealand.
Review and photography by Tim Gruar.
It was 2019 when UK jazz-electro duo, The Correspondents, re-detonated our stages, blowing up crowds at Auckland’s Splore Festival and Morning Festival (at Whammy Bar), Christchurch’s Electric Avenue and Taranaki’s WOMAD.
It was all thanks to the outrageous world music beats of DJ Tim ‘Chucks’ Cole and the infectious, flamboyant dance presence of frontman, Ian Bruce (aka Mr Bruce).
With hooky music that’s hard to pin, let alone catch(y), their stylings rocked between dance beats, swing, and dance rave bangers it was the perfect blend of high energy festival participation and good times.
Cole and Bruce formed The Correspondents in 2007 and over the next 13 years, the duo released two albums, a handful of EPs, and appeared on the line-ups of Glastonbury, Bestival and WOMAD. Their last release was their 2019 EP, ‘Who Knew’. They became a constant of the festival circuit in the UK and Europe, and here, and were one of the UK’s most in-demand acts.
However, in October 2020, Bruce posted on social media that Cole have passed away, giving no explanation or further details. We later learned that it was from an unexpected pulmonary embolism.
Since then, Bruce has gone solo in spectacular style with a new sound, drawing on decades of UK dance – from techno to jungle to garage and hyper-pop. It’s a different template to the Correspondents ‘music, which drew heavily on 1920’s and 30’s swing. Working with producer Angus Kemp, Bruce has released a handful of ultra-high, beat heavy singles and videos that focus on the complexity of grief not only in relation to his own loss (he also lost his twin brother in 2006) but in the wider context of recent global events. The songs, claims his publicity, to be an ‘’exorcism of love and rage’’ and an expression of his love for dance music.
Flip back through the Correspondents’ photos and you’ll see plenty of Mr Bruce’s outrageous costumes and tracksuits. His new show continues the same themes, this time with a startling cobalt blue suit, cut like the garb of a modern matador or dictator or Bond criminal (or…all of the above).
Tonight was Bruce’s Kiwi debut as ‘Mr Bruce’. It was also their first show of the year and of the current tour. Backed by his DJ extraordinaire Angus Kemp, he delivered a stunning and ridiculously explosive set of techno-fuelled numbers from his new catalogue, alongside choice cuts from the Correspondents era.
You can’t escape the extraordinary choreography from this bendy-bodied performer. It’s like Mr Plastic from the Fantastic Four – on steroids! His act seamlessly transforms from a gentle swaying, Arms legs flaying flamboyantly like the gossamer of a dancer’s dress, then morphing into string of firecrackers all going off at once. He spins like a dervish, stalks the stage like a lion on heat, jumps and crashes, his moves are borrowed from Irish dancing, Caleigh and all manner of folk.
The way he wears the suit is a sight to behold, too. It was out of this world – as if it’s a space-suit, moonwalking, or the clothes of a despot politician, frantically waving his arms about as if in mid-speech on the podium.
There were plenty of highlights: The dark and evil revelation ‘I Must Confess’, which opens this hour and forty-five-minute set. The high intensity apocalyptic ‘I am Disaster’. The tribal tom tom banger ‘Race To Nowhere’. Then the swaggering, stomping re-make of Bruce’s favourite song, Talking Heads’ ‘Burning Down The House’ which is given the full techno overhaul by Kemp on the DJ desk.
There was a choke up moment when Bruce talks about his ex-Correspondent partner Tim ‘Çhucks’ Cole and dedicates ‘Where Have You Gone’ to him.
Bruce makes jokes about performing on a Tuesday, a dead night for most performers. And a resignation that his legs won’t be thanking him for the three-hour bushwalk he did earlier in the day.
There’s the slower dubstep number ‘Volatile Times’ and heavier d’n’b on the sweat’n’grind of ‘Dark Age’. And by this time Bruce is dripping buckets. His energy and performance is so high, like an energiser bunny powered by 6 car batteries!
The Correspondents ’Inexplicable’ gets the biggest cheer and a full-on sing-along from the crowd. It wasn’t a huge room tonight, but there was plenty of love in the room for Mr Bruce. He gave them a full-on show and they gave back, dancing as hardcore as he was, trying to keep up.
Mr Bruce is a unique act and none of my words can really do justice to his act. Let’s just say that you need to see him live. I had a blast!
Were you there at San Fran for this high energy EDM gig? Or have you seen Mr Bruce perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph 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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Always a great night out – have seen The Correspondents several times at WOMADs and Splore. Saw Mr Bruce last night in Palmerston North – excellent gig as always.