Nadia Reid
14th May 2021
ToiToi, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.
Review by Rob Harbers, photography by Andrew Caldwell.
Touring to close the loop on previous recordings before committing to her next one, tonight Nadia Reid and her band kicked things off at Hastings’ grand old lady of ToiToi, weaving magic soundscapes accompanied by intelligent and literate lyrical outpourings.
Opening act, and signed to Nadia’s record label, was Anthonie Tonnon, having made his way all the way from Wanganui through the grace of Intercity Coach Services. His soulful and emotive delivery was accompanied by dramatic and frenetic bodily movements, something akin to a marionette possessed by the spirit of David Byrne (all in a good way, of course!). One to watch, definitely, with an album due out in July, around the same time as Nadia is due to unveil her current creative project (which will require far more ongoing nurturing than Anthonie’s release).
Nadia and band took to the stage with what was, it must be said, not the best sound mix initially – Nadia’s vocals being nowhere near as upfront and centre as might be expected of the front person. This was remedied after a few numbers, with a more focused mix allowing Nadia to shine through, particularly on “Best Thing”, the highlight of the first half of the set, where the full sound came together, all elements gelling into a unified whole.
The set was divided into two halves, partly, it was suggested, due to the need for the pregnant Nadia to attend to physical needs (enough said).
The aforementioned sound issues fully remedied, the second set commenced with “Canada”, its lyrics calling to mind more innocent times in which international travel was far more of a happening thing. Next up was “Hold It Up”, displaying a rich sound texture. A major part of the texture through the whole of the show came courtesy of Cameron Pearce and Gavin Reynolds, on trumpet and sax respectively. Not to suggest that the rest of the players were any less valuable, that is, guitarist Sam Taylor in particular providing delicate sonic swathes.
Having been informed that in the audience was a 3-day-old baby, Nadia sweetly sought to dedicate a song to the wee one, but wisely chose not to use “The Future” for this particular honour, its lyrical themes a little dark for the mission! Instead it was “All Of My Love” (not the Led Zeppelin song!) which provided suitable material, and constituting the second to last song of the regular set, before an encore rendition of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” from 1993 brought the curtain down on proceedings.
This was an evening that showed this will definitely be a tour worth catching, as it wends its way through the country over the next few weeks. Get to it if you can!
Were you there at ToiToi for this beautiful performance? Or have you seen Nadia Reid perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Note: Banished Music provided passes to Ambient Light 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. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.
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