Concert Review - The Disappointments, Auckland New Zealand, 2018

The Disappointments

25th April 2018
The Tuning Fork, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by John Kidd. Photography by Sarah Kidd.

What could be better than a mid-week public holiday? Capping a cruisy day off with a drink in hand and a blues band that only cost a dollar to see. That’s what. What’s that I hear you say? A dollar? Tis true, there is very little that you can purchase for a single dollar nowadays, maybe a couple of loose (and often dubious) lollies from the local dairy… and not much else.

However thanks to the newly formed The Disappointments and their nod to times gone by, the ‘A Buck a Head’ ticket price concept that was all the rage in the 70’s was brought back for one glorious night at Auckland’s The Tuning Fork in celebration of the self-titled album launch from this threesome of stalwarts of the NZ music scene.

While many of their collective (as Street Talk) and individual hits in other bands or as solo artists were a little before my time (meaning that I never had the pleasure of seeing them being performed in their natural environment such as The Windsor Castle) that doesn’t mean that I did not grow up with much of their music shaping my formative years. And on a day like Anzac Day where we remember our fallen heroes, a day that is truly steeped in reverence it seems rather apt that I along with many others stand before these masters of their craft to pay homage to not only them but to those in the industry who have already left this mortal coil.

Led by none other than New Zealand’s own embodiment of the blues itself, the talented Hammond Gamble, Andy Macdonald and ex The Angels drummer (and renowned promoter) Brent Eccles form The Disappointments, who from the outset of their performance proved emphatically that they were anything but.

Expanding to a five piece for tonight’s show, The Disappointments are joined by both Stephen Small on keys and Larry Killip on guitar, each giving the songs an even more rounded and full bodied sound. Gamble’s voice has lost nothing over the years; instead that slight edge of gravel that comes with the turning of pages just adding character to the tracks.

Kicking it all off with the eyebrow raising titled instrumental ‘Fuck Off’ (I swear to god that title will never not bring a smile to my face), the five piece fall into a natural rhythm which quite clearly is intuitive, small nods of the head and smiles shared communicating so much in such a small way. With a popped collar, Eccles takes on the rebel persona of the band, leading the charge with sticks in hand, the camaraderie between both himself and Gamble evident as Gamble – with tongue firmly in cheek – at one point admonishes him for letting fly with a mini solo at the end of a track. With no support band (Eccles making himself very clear on that point in our recent interview with him which you can read here) and the set being split into two parts with a fifteen minute intermission (of sorts) in-between meant that the evening had a pleasingly relaxed vibe about it. Nothing felt rushed or overthought, the music just flowed and we just basked in its velvety overtones.

That’s not to say of course that the music was that middle of the road type generic blues that’s plays in supermarkets to subliminally sedate the shoppers either. While tracks such as ‘No One’ had a cockle-warming heat about it, others such as ‘Blue Paradise’ had that hip shaking swing that compliments a damn fine whiskey (oh you better believe I was sipping on one my fine friends!) while ‘Jess Is Just A Fooler’ saw the blues participate in a musical line dance with a nice little country melody. As promised The Disappointments played their debut album in full; mixing the track listing up and interspersing it with a few of Gamble’s solo pieces such as ‘Long Night Blues’ and ‘You Cheated Me’ from his 2008 album Ninety Mile Days.

But it was the bands finale that just capped the evening off in style; their cover of the Bob Dylan classic ‘The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar’ seeing the entire room grin from ear to ear as each member of the band let loose and displayed their skill set in full. Touted as a one off performance (no national tour here I’m afraid) tonight was just that little bit special; another notch engraved into the history books of iconic kiwi shows and one that this time I was old enough to not only attend but fully appreciate.

The Disappointments perform live in Auckland, New Zealand 2018. Image by Sarah Kidd.

Were you there at The Tuning Fork for this old school blues rock show? Or have you seen The Disappointments perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!