Bailter Space
17th September 2018
Whammy Bar, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review & Photography by Sarah Kidd.
Following a performance as part of a sold-out The Other’s Way festival – always a popular musical event in Auckland – just last month (and Bailter Space’s first live outing in New Zealand since 2013’s Laneway Festival) it was of little wonder that a separate headline tour was hotly demanded. Originally touted as just three dates that would see the infamous trio play Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington with ‘no wave upstarts’ Wax Chattels, a further Auckland date was tacked onto the end much to the excitement of many who were unable to catch them at the aforementioned earlier Auckland gig last August.
Sadly, for many that excitement soon started to wane within the first few songs…
With no Wax Chattels the show was already off to a disappointing start, the up and comers receiving rave feedback up and down the country; in fact, there was no support act at all. Granted it was a Monday night and many punters would be grateful of a slightly earlier finishing time, but it still felt a little off to not even have a solo artist to warm the night up – and certainly a missed opportunity to showcase some local talent, if even just briefly.
Having originally formed in 1980 as The Gordons and releasing the now defining self-titled debut album in 81’ the trio of Halvorsen, Parker and McLachlan split just five years later. But some things are just meant to be and in 1987 the three once again came together as ‘Nelsh Bailter Space’ later shortening it to today’s more well-known band name, Bailter Space.
Whammy Bar was packed, the audience certainly one of a more mature age range, most discussing their memories of seeing Bailter Space back in the day. Through the crowd the three band members arrived, stepping onto and moving about the stage they slowly got themselves set up as lead vocalist Alister Parker decided where best to place his drinks.
From the first strained notes of ‘Fused’ from the 1990 Thermos album it was evident that this would be a show that – from an audience’s stand point – would benefit from serious inebriation; it certainly seemed to be the tactic that Parker was unfortunately using. Anyone expecting those iconic melodious vocals that Parker was notorious for were instead greeted with rather nasally alcohol infused whining that gradually progressed to almost belligerent shouting towards the end of the set; second track of the night the gorgeous ‘Splat’ from the album Wammo suffering from both Parker’s vocal and instrumental inattention.
But all was not completely lost, Brent McLachlan on drums was sublime, playing without shoes, he looked more than at home behind the kit and was easily the glue that kept the set together; to his left bassist John Halvorsen who while keeping to his far corner and often cloaked in shadow certainly made his presence felt with hefty bass playing that wrapped itself around McLachlan’s drumming and formed an outstanding rhythm section that saved the show from falling into the fire.
While it must be said that Parker was indeed in a rather jovial mood, breaking out into a smile and declaring “thank you” periodically, it seemed his relationship with his fellow band members was more than just a little strained, Halvorsen’s look of disdain at some points throughout the evening conveying his thoughts towards Parker rather clearly, the overall feeling in the room one of disjointment. The set rolled on, The Gordons track ‘Machine Song’ eliciting some whoops from the audience, however one does feel that with a better performance the entire crowd would have gone wild. Sure – it was still Bailter Space, the Christchurch kings of post-punk dissension and if you closed your eyes and employed some selective hearing techniques you could indeed give yourself over to the atmospheric noise rock and somewhat enjoy yourself … somewhat.
Finishing the set on E.I.P from Robot World and it seemed fairly certain that an encore would be delivered, especially as McLachlan showed no signs of leaving his kit. Parker however very much planned on leaving, making the fans wait almost ten minutes before finally returning to stage with a two-song encore that culminated in the title track from their 1993 album Robot World.
One thing’s for sure Bailter Space proved tonight that the wistful longings and warm fuzzies of that thing called nostalgia will only take you so far before you have to step up to the plate and actually deliver…
Were you there at Whammy Bar for this special add-on gig? Or have you seen Bailter Space perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Fused
- Splat
- Untied
- Ore
- Machine Song
- Skin
- Modf
- Shadow
- Station
- E.I.P
- The Aim [encore]
- Robot World [encore]
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