Northlane
24th November 2016
The Kings Arms, Auckland, New Zealand
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Matt Henry Photography.
A clear, city-lights twinkling Thursday in Auckland hosted an evening of metal for millennials as Northlane swooped into town with their good buddies The Brave, as the opening support act. With Auckland’s heavy yet melodic -music fans coming out in full force to enjoy a chat in the Kings Arms beer garden or cramming into the nicely full main room; it was a throng of bodies thick with tie-dye Northlane shirts and iPhone 7s capturing the action, while the air was scented with LUSH products and Watermelon flavoured vape smoke.
Unfortunately missing The Brave’s performance, it was nice to chat to punters and gauge their warm reception for the evenings’ openers. As a bit of a juxtaposition to the night’s guest of honour, New Zealand’s premiere metal outfit Saving Grace pounded out a great and varied set comprised of the material they’ve been crafting here in Aotearoa for the last at least 14 years, road-testing it to audiences around the globe. Beyond professional, Saving Grace gifted us a tight and precise flurry of tracks with guitarist Vas as pit commander, directing the action of the faithful pit monkeys as they trashed and shook to bangers like Unbreakable, 1994 and blistering new single Recidivist. Rounding up and breaking down their stage set up with ridiculous efficiency; it’s hard to supress a bit of a feeling of pride and ownership over these lads, having seen them emerge from gigs that held a handful of sweaty kids at AA shows in a Hamilton Boat Club many years ago. Top effort blokes!
Waiting for Northlane was an interesting experience, as the crowd grew more and more anxious to see the main event take centre stage the more excitable everyone became; pushing into the spaces and unfolding from the laden merch desk at the back to the very lip of the stage at the front. Then as soon as the unassuming, darkened figures of Northlane crept before their fans, a massive thick plume of chill just rolled over the crowd as people melded together and just…vibed. In an inclusive, supportive and warm feeling atmosphere, frontman Marcus Bridge was able to take almost whole verses off the mic as the ‘kids’ were deafening in their singing loud to every syllable of lyric. Kicking right off with Rot, Northlane are almost private in the way they conduct their stage presence and duties, yet somehow are creating all these special moments with the people that have come to bear witness tonight. Marcus would lean out into the crowd and grasp a GoPro or a smartphone that was live streaming to the world, taking it into the circle of trust onstage. Deftly not missing a breath in his vocals, but singing directly into the device, playing for the lens and touring the stage and crowd view before delicately handing it back. Lemme tell ya, has Bridges got the pipes or what? With perfect mic control, velocity and volume, Bridge brings a soaring, righteous feeling to this emo-adjacent melodic metalcore. With a good mix of tracks over this 2016’s Node and 2011’s Discoveries; without a doubt Impulse was the track of the night, hailing to the assembled faithful and perhaps making them feel for one evening, that they aren’t so alone in a digital world.
Were you there at the Kings Arms to witness this amazing show? Or have you seen Northlane somewhere else? Tell me about it in the comments below!