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Sludge rock yawn of the year By PJ TAYLOR Monday, 26 March 2007 Dear Tim and Neil Finn, Cc: Eddie Rayner, Noel Crombie and Nigel Griggs. Hi lads. What happened to those Split Enz reformation gigs you promised last year? If you were waiting for a suitable, comfortable and modern indoor venue to become available, Auckland now has, after all these years, a mighty fine auditorium in the Vector Arena. Split Enz would have been a more worthy and appropriate opening act for Vector’s debut last Saturday, not an over-hyped glammed-up group of US covers sluggers. It’s about time you got out again and reminded us what seeing, hearing and feeling Split Enz is all about. You’re a principal string on New Zealand’s cultural guitar and there’s an ideal venue for Split Enz to play again in this country, near the shores of the Waitemata and on treasured Ngati Whatua land. You got me? Respectfully,
This stereotypical cliché of rock is the most over-rated yawn of them all. At least Spinal Tap had humour and tunes. For supposed tough guy rockers, it was weird watching Rock Star Supernova’s disjointed show close with an encore of Prince’s Purple Rain and the even more surprising hit out of Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time. One also hopes Brits Richard Ashcroft and The Verve are receiving royalties each time Rock Star Supernova murders the previously dazzling Bittersweet Symphony. Because if Ashcroft heard this rendition, there’s a good chance he’d be sick and we wouldn’t see him again for another five years. It’s difficult assessing just what is Rock Star Supernova? If it’s supposed to be a quality touring rock circus, it’s got a long way to go. The party boys could get a few useful tips from our own Jordan Luck. If it’s going to last beyond its showbiz shelf life, the lads will need an album. And that’s the challenge – whether they can write and produce enough original songs to make it in music’s real world. As Westie-looking matey from south Auckland summed up on the way out: “I didn’t pay $100 to hear them play Bryan Adams.” It was actually Don Henley’s Boys of Summer but the point wasn’t missed. The Yanks opened with the classic Rolling Stones number Let’s Spend the Night Together, but by the end, many would have felt guilty attending the dull one date stand. The entertainment was such a let down for a memorable night in Auckland’s venue history, the opening night of the gleaming new, fan-friendly Vector Arena, a 12,000-seat enclosed stadium that fans, city fathers and mothers and showbiz entrepreneurs have been waiting for more than a decade. We’ve now come a long way since Mainstreet, The Gluepot and Powerstation. And what exactly has Tommy Lee done apart from lead a life on the trashy celebrity circuit? Motley Crue was exactly that, a band that Ozzie Osborne and Alice Cooper still crap all over, even in their autumn years. Lee’s got this burnt-out Dog Town surfer-skater appearance, body tats and basketball boots, hair dyed (raspberry) for the 10,000th time, flashy white fangs and not a Pam Anderson hickie in sight: A look that out-grew him a decade back. A few acquaintances met him and all say what a cool, down-to-earth, fun guy he is. During Saturday night’s show, Lee indicates his happy frame of mind, while wearing his Henry Kissinger diplomatic hat on behalf of the US State Dept, mentioning “what a breath of fresh air” New Zealand is. And proudly at the end, before the lame encores, Lee shouts: “We’re the first rock band to play this f****** venue.” Woo hoo, the crowd of about 3000 responds with not much satisfaction. Lee plays drums in the slicing tree-cutter style and most of Rock Star Supernova’s set is mid-tempo paced in the contemporary 4x4. There was thundering double bass drums that rattled the walls and chests, accompanied by Black Crowes’ bassman Johnny Colt and heavy reverb and echo delay. Guitarist Gilbey Clarke, the former Guns’n’Roses axeman, punched riffs and a few leads without ever really strumming into a sweat. He was very good at swirling his long dark hair and thrusting out the right arm between striking a power chord every two bars. The one redeeming positive about Rock Star Supernova – providing a break for an unknown to make it in the big time – is endorsed by the performance of the singer who was given the chance to lead the band after winning the lead-in TV series. Lukas Rossi has a wide-ranging voice that cuts over the drone of his illustrious band mates and he’s developing into a competent front man. But he, like the group, has a long way to go. And really, is Purple Rain and Bittersweet Symphony his bag? |
