Thomas Oliver
25th May 2018
Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Alexis Brook. Photography by Doug Peters.
Finishing off an Australasian tour at the Powerstation last night Thomas Oliver performed a slick, entertaining and musically fantastic set. With opening support by fellow Wellingtonian Solomon Crook it was an evening of indie inspired rhythm and blues with a rock and pop twist to a very mixed crowd; proving once again that music is timeless.
The Solomon Crook band set the tone of the evening with a groovy rhythm; opening with ‘Love Juice’, there were soon several audience members on the floor dancing while couples and groups lined the edges of the room as the song lyrics “don’t go falling in love with me” wrapped around them. ‘Who You Know’ came next with another catchy bass line and lush backing harmonies from the band members. A change in tempo to ‘Smokey Lips’ paints pictures of introspection as the audience are invited to “leave the light on so I can find myself”. Three songs in and more audience members have arrived and it’s great to see the room slowly filling up. Solomon then introduces ‘Cash Clothes’ from his recently released EP and it’s another relaxed song where you feel you are chilling with friends on a Sunday afternoon. Harmonic echoes rang out across the venue as Solomon sang about trying to find peace of mind while his band members displayed their musical talents through their solos. Closing his set with a little more storytelling before ‘Black Coffee’ and ‘Rise’ all I can say is that Solomon Crook will definitely be one to watch for in the future.
The Powerstation is now almost full, however many of the latecomers would have missed seeing the fantastic opening act – which is a shame. My advice to them is to make sure they check out Solomon Crook at the first available opportunity! Nine-thirty and everyone has on fresh new glasses ready for the main event. The floor is comfortably packed as Thomas Oliver and his band arrive; applause filling the room a few minutes later as Oliver and co. open with ‘Shine Like The Sun’. Thomas greets Auckland by asking them how they are feeling – always a good way of gauging your audience – before launching into his second track of the evening, the Apra Silver Scroll Award winning track ‘If I Move To Mars’ which feels fabulously polished, the audience hanging onto every word.
Taking off his white jacket, Thomas switches from the acoustic to his electric guitar and starts to play ‘Losin’ from his album Floating in the Darkness. Smart move as it warms up his crowd nicely while simultaneously allowing them to settle into his set before he unleashes a brand new soul song on them entitled ‘Learn that Lesson Again. You can hear that musically Oliver has developed into a slightly more popular style. I am completely transfixed by the tail end of the song as Oliver uses the call and response with his own guitar; reminiscent of so many of the greats, and it works extremely well. Oliver seemingly having a relationship with his instruments in which he gives them a voice of their own, to tell their own tales in response to his beautifully voiced enquiries.
But it was now time for us to hear the instrument we had all come to see; the Weissenborn. I’ve always been a fan of steel and slide guitar as the sound really captures the true essence of the blues. It brings with it a nice change of pace as well, the crowd pleasing ‘Tenderly’ soon finding the audience and myself singing along. Thanking the audience for coming out to the show, Oliver appears truly humble as he points out that they could have been at Marlon Williams (who was playing at the Town Hall) instead; this prompted one particular audience member to gleefully shout ‘You’re the best guitarist in New Zealand, that’s why we’re here!” the audience showing their agreement with this statement by gifting Oliver a round of heartfelt applause.
As the band quietly leaves the stage, Oliver is found alone under a centre spotlight. Regaling the fans with a story from his recent European tour where after a 32 hour flight to Amsterdam he met with his promoter straight off the plane. Heading off for a beer he meets a woman named Martina. Martina tells him that she had just quit university as she had decided to go home instead to Bulgaria and live in the mountains. Cue five am the following morning and Oliver wakes up with jetlag. Despite this and because of the fact that he is so completely enraptured by this story he gets up and writes the song ‘Bulgarian Mountains’. Through this sumptuous new track we are introduced to a woman who in Oliver’s eyes is divine, a woman who rejects the offer of being placed on the guest list for the show as she is leaving the next day and all she longs for is to be out in the wild. It is a tale of the perfect random conversation, a conversation that stays with you for years to come and is pulled out like a vividly coloured trinket on long evenings when you have a few beers under your belt.
The band soon returns and we are introduced to yet another new track entitled ‘The Time in Tokyo’; another catchy swing ballad about realising you know nothing about someone you used to know everything about, and how people can change before your very eyes. It’s great to see how Oliver interacts with his band, spending time moving across the stage and introducing each band member (Florence on backing vocals, Sam on drums, Johnny on bass and Ed on Keys). A rousing version of the Al Green song ‘Take Me to the River’ lifts everyone’s mood again – many toes are a tapping accompanied by the swaying bodies. It’s inevitable really, I mean you just can’t help but to groove along to something so familiar performed so very well.
The lighting changes to a curtain of red as Oliver mentions that he’s going to explore “dark things” and “take us on a journey”. The Weissenborn comes out once again and we are treated to some ultimate mood setting jam work which displays the musicianship from all members. This soon leads into one of my personal favourites ‘Bad Talking Man’. The room echoes with the slapping, knocking and tapping on the resonant Weissenborn accompanied by the high hat. All of a sudden I realised that ‘Bad Talking Man’ had begun almost twenty minutes ago; looking around the room though all you could see was an audience who were completely engaged thanks to his fantastic displays of musicianship from this refined band.
Of course when any artist leaves the stage people commence clapping and calling for an encore, knowing that unless those house lights come up there will always be one; so dutifully we play the game until Oliver and band return to the stage with ‘Let It be this One’; the audience drinking in those last few moments with one of New Zealand’s most talented musicians.
We don’t know how lucky we are…
Were you there at the Powerstation for this magnificent singer-songwriter’s gig? Or have you seen Thomas Oliver perform live some other time? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Thomas Oliver Setlist:
- Shine Like The Sun
- If I Move To Mars
- Losin’
- Learn That Lesson Again
- Tenderly
- Bulgarian Mountains
- The Time in Tokyo
- Take Me To The River [Al Green cover]
- Bad Talkin’ Man
- Let It Be This One [encore]
Solomon Crook Setlist:
- Love Juice
- Who You know
- Smoky Lips
- Cash Clothes
- Without A Heart
- Black Coffee
- Rise
This content is a part of our NZ Music Month coverage, celebrating old, new and upcoming Kiwi artists. For more information on NZ Music Month you can visit their website.
