Mr Bruce
15th February 2023
Globe Theatre, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Review by Rob Harbers. Photography by Amanda Hodge.
Just over 30 years back, Mick Jones and his fellow B.A.D. actors sang of dimming the lights and having a ball tonight, down at the Globe. And on this night, that’s exactly what happened, as Mr Bruce turned Globe Two into a wee sweatbox, with the help of some hyperactive dancing fuelled by his propulsive beats. Heck, even I was sweating, and I was just standing at the back, playing the role of dispassionate critic with my little notebook in hand!
Enough has been said elsewhere in these pages about the back-story to this appearance that it needs no more coverage here (thanks Tim!). So suffice it to say that this extremely energetic performance hyped up the assembled ‘Parmesans’ to a near fever pitch, turning the Globe in to Dance Central for the night, what with the Footnote Dance presentation occurring in Globe One at the same time.
Covering both solo and Correspondents material, the set presented absolute bangers all night, while sneaking in some fairly heavy lyrical content here and there. Some might suggest that “Boss”, with its theme of ‘We didn’t ask for you to lead us, We didn’t want you to be boss, You have done nothing but deceive us’ could almost have been written for our current Koalition, but that’s not for me to suggest!
And as for the ‘cheery little number about the end of the world’, as “I am Disaster” was introduced – well it was just joy all the way. Mr Bruce introduced this by stating that his visit to Aotearoa was refreshing in that he was able to encounter nature afresh, an experience not to be found in his native land, and that his government was about pumping sewage in to the waterways – I say don’t give our lot any more ideas!!
A reflection of how far the rock star life has come in recent times was provided by a call for some white tape to mark the front of the stage, to mitigate against the risk of an accidental stage dive-back in the day, that would most definitely not be the subject matter when it came to discussing white lines on stages… Perhaps that’s also a reflection of the “Volatile Times” of which he sang!
A very poignant moment was the dedication of “Where Have You Gone”, written in response to the loss of fellow Correspondent Mr Chucks, and on this night dedicated to all who may be grieving, whatever it may be for. And we all know there’s more than enough of that to go around at the moment. Fuckin’ belter of a tune, though!
Confessing to never having written a setlist in his life, Mr B was totally at the mercy of compadre Angus when it came to what was next. It all came together though, this sinuous, snake-hipped strutter throwing his body fully in to the performance, whatever the song of the moment was, and taking the audience with him every step of the way. As someone else once sang, ‘I wanna take you higher’ indeed!
Introduced as ‘time for some wonky’, most recent single, a cover of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” kept the temperature up, in a real-time example of Global warming, playing out before our very eyes.
But before anybody knew it, it was time for the end of the set – mercifully, I guess, as keeping up this pace for too long could be a health hazard! Closing out the main set with “Inexplicable”, things definitely finished on a high note, sufficient to motivate the obligatory encore, before sending us out into the relatively cool air of a Papaioea night, smiles everywhere. And if that’s not a good thing, the ability and opportunity to smile now and then, well I’m not sure I know what is. Not that you’ll catch me smiling too much, being the dispassionate critic and all…
If you want to get on this train, (and I really do think you should!), there are only a couple more chances to do so – tonight in Oakura, and then next week at Splore – get on board!
Were you there at Globe Theatre 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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