Pop Will Eat Itself
14th September 2022
The Tuning Fork, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kev Rowland. Photography by Doug Peters.
Back into central Auckland on a Wednesday night to what is rapidly becoming my most favoured venue – before this year I came to Tuning Fork sparingly, yet in 2022 I have already lost count of how many amazing artists I have seen here. Tonight, it was the turn of iconic British band Pop Will Eat Itself, who originally formed in the Midlands in the mid Eighties and were known for their high energy performances and heavy use of samples. Their second album, 1989’s ‘This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This!’ was their most successful, both in charts and critically, and is still seen as a watershed moment. This tour sees the band playing that album in its entirety, and then following it up with some of their other more well-known numbers so it was going to be an interesting night.
Before the gig started, I was chatting with Doug, and we agreed that we had never seen so much space in front of this stage. More than 200 tickets had been sold by last night, so there were a lot of people heading in, but currently they all seemed content to stay back by the bar! Mind you, if they were students when Pop Will Eat Itself were in their heyday, perhaps that is understandable as they are not as young as they used to be! Like many bands, Pop Will Eat Itself have been through line-up changes and issues over the years, and split up in 1996 before reforming in 2011, although back then only Graham Crabb (vocals) was still there from the old days as he brought in new musicians including Mary Byker (vocals) and Davey Bennett (bass). However, the band has continued to morph and now includes three others who were there before the split, founders Richard March (guitar) and Adam Mole (keyboards) along with Fuzz Townshend (drums) who joined in 1992. Of all the band members this was the one I was most intrigued to see, as I am quite a fan of “Car SOS’ and of course he is one of the presenters!
They came on to a backing track, then Fuzz turned into a drumming machine, and we were off into “PWEI Is A Four Letter Word”. There was no messing about, just two singers/rappers doing whatever they could to wind up the crowd who had rapidly made their way to the front, obviously inspired by The Beastie Boys. It was obvious we were in for a show tonight and that the audience were ready for it, dancing and shouting the words back to the band. We went straight into “Preaching to the Perverted” and while bass and guitars were often locked into rock, Adam was triggering samples and climbing all over the keyboard stand, seemingly defying gravity while Fuzz no longer appeared human. I have read about his live skills, but he is one of the tightest sticksmen I have ever come across, so focussed it was unreal. By the time we got into the fourth track from the album, “Sixteen Different Flavours of Hell”, we were in the strange position of the band doing everything they could to get the crowd going, but not interacting directly with them. Mind you, they corrected that when the song finished by shouting “Welcome to Wellington!” which certainly got a response, but possibly not the one they expected (they blamed jetlag). Although the crowd had already been heavily involved up to this point, they definitely stepped up when the band launched into “Can U Dig It”, which of course includes lines from one of the greatest movies of all time, ‘The Warriors’, and the crowd were shouting “Riffs, yeah” at the opportune moments. Graham uses a megaphone more than any other singer I have previously come across, and it certainly works to give the vocals a very different sound. The bass was ramped up for another of their hits, “Def. Con. One” and the crowd again reacted and by now the front of the stage was a dance pit. The beats just keep going, with Graham and Mary in perfect harmony, happily throwing in bits of lyrics and melody from other songs, with Tears For Fear’s “Shout” of course being referenced in “Radio P.W.E.I.”.
Just when one thought they weren’t going to speed it up anymore they launched into “Satellite Ecstatica” and all the 50-year-olds in the audience were moving as if they were back in the Student Uni. There were plenty of shouts when Mary announced, “Not Now James, We’re Busy…”and then they went into their tribute/ripoff of James Brown and the details of his arrest. “Wake Up! Time to Die…” shows a very different side of the band as while the beats are there, it is far darker, way more oppressive with plenty of metal and the rhythm section locked in as one to create a solid foundation while hell breaks loose. This was also the last song of the album, so even though they had been playing for well under an hour, this meant the main part of the set was over.
They left the stage, but not for long, and were back with a promise of some bangers and Graham pointed out it was a young crowd tonight, or at least the same age as the band, and then we were into the techno “Dance of the Mad Bastards”. Given the average of the audience they were doing well for a school night, still jumping and trying to keep up with the energy coming from the stage where Fuzz was still keeping everything locked down. “Get the Girl, Kill The Baddies” was another where the crowd delighted in singing back to the band, doing the same for “Everything’s Cool”. We were then treated to a new song in “The Poppy Strikes Back” with the promise of more new material to come soon, and it fitted in perfectly with what we had been hearing so far, as if the Eighties had never really gone away after all.
I am guessing most of the people in the audience were waiting for one song in particular, and of course the band did not disappoint as they kicked into “Ich Bin Ein Auslande”, saying it is as pertinent today as it was when it was written which was the cue for everyone to summon whatever reserves of energy they had left and pogo like loonies. There are going to be a lot of middle-aged people with various aches and pains in the morning but if they thought there was going to be any opportunity for a rest they were sadly mistaken as yet again the band ripped up the tempo with “PWEI-zation” with the band obviously getting their second wind and going nuts. Graham then asked the crowd if everybody was happy and there were cheers of recognition for “Bulletproof!”. PWEI really are an amazing live band in that somehow, they not only manage to maintain the energy levels throughout the gig but keep pushing both themselves and the audience so everyone becomes part of one sweaty moving mass. The crowd even took the opportunity to sing a chorus without the band, much to their delight.
Graham announced it was time for the last dance, and they ended the night with their collaboration with Prodigy, “Their Law”, which saw them crunch the riffs for a last time, everyone dancing, and Fuzz still being the human drum machine. What a night, what a band.
Were you there at The Tuning Fork for this magnificent alt rock gig? Or have you seen Pop Will Eat Itself perform live somewhere else before? 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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