QUICK REVIEW:
10/10. Go see him live if you haven’t. That crowd and energy is awesome. Him and his band really vibe off eachother and it really gets the crowd going. And you may just get a rose…
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FULL REVIEW:
From a SOLD OUT Tuning Fork last visit to a SOLD OUT Powerstation last night – you love to see it! There were a lot of people flowing in as I arrived to the venue. Some just dressed casually, some with tassels, some with tassels masks, some with cowboy hats and some with all of the above! It was so awesome to see. I also loved the custom N95’s I saw!
I would say the venue was about half full when Erny Belle took the stage with her 5 piece band. She was dressed in a beautiful, what I would say is a, Latina-style outfit. It was amazing. With the way I have experienced some crowds lately, I was intrigued to see if the crowd would talk much during her performance and thought they did, they also cheered a lot. The crowd had really been packing in more and more but the crowds reception to Erny was so positive and I think even she felt overwhelmed. She would acknowledge the crowd with “wows” and a smile, and you couldn’t help but reflect that smile and feel happy for her.
Now if you looked up Erny Belle, you wouldn’t find too much on social media (either that or my skills aren’t as good as they used to be). But the tracks she performed were so good! This is why I love to catch opening acts at shows because then I can discover new people and ask “where have you been?!”.
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But the time it got to the end of her performance the crowd had really packed in and I actually questioned if it was oversold because I felt like I hadn’t seen The Powerstation this packed before, and I have been to my share of Sold Out Powerstation shows. Luckily, though it was packed, the crowd seemed quite nice and reasonable, though very drunk. But that was more obvious during Orville Peck. Now let me get to the man of the night…
ORVILLE PECK. Okay so last time he visited I thought he was interesting but didn’t know his music so sent others to cover his show. After that, I soon realised I had deprived myself. But tonight was redemption.
The crowd started getting a bit impatient after a while as I started hearing people shout things out. But after a bit more of a wait, the lights went dark and some music began playing. The band and Orville himself made their way on to the stage. The crowd was so excited.
Orville has some great energy, both himself and with his band. They had dance moments together and Orville would do a kick out to the side as the drum hit, here and there. The lighting was colourful and bright but also matched and flowed well I would say. And to top that off, the sound was just so great. You could really here his vocals and appreciate each instrumentation that came through. There’s something so great about hearing vocals so clearly. The best.
But before he went further in to the show, he had to establish some ground rules. Well “suggestions” he says:
CRY – Cry if you feel the need to cry.
SING-A-LONG – Even if you don’t know the words. Especially if you don’t know the words because it is funnier for them and the person next to you.
DANCE – If you feel the urge to move, please do.
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Then as he wrapped up with the guitar, he moved to the piano. Before he sat down he did a quick wave to those around the corner in the crowd (where I was) and up on the balcony behind him. He has great crowd awareness I have to say. He then played the song ‘Drive me, crazy’ which he said was a song about truck drivers in love so he dedicated it to a girl in the crowd, particularly her dad Dave who is a truck driver. During the performance, the guitarist jumped on top of the piano. It was a moment.
If you like an artist that has great crowd engagement, he is your man. Even the little moments were great when he spoke to the crowd because it didn’t feel serious or scripted. He’d just randomly laugh at himself or something the crowd said, ask questions and just really seemed to be having fun. You feed off that energy, well I do.
Orville actually mentioned how he had been to Wellington the night before to see his friend Trixie Mattel and that he had never played Wellington. But he said he felt like Auckland was his turf.
The cute & exciting crowd engagement moments were ‘The Rose Ceremony’. I call it that because Orville himself said it was like The Bachelor. He gave out roses to people in the crowd based off energy and outfits. It was lovely because he ended up choosing people off to the side and one women up on the balcony – like I said, good crowd awareness. There was one point where Bria (band member extraordinaire) just through a few into the crowd though. Orville said he felt like they needed more but I felt like they just seemed to have more coming out of nowhere.
He then went back to the guitar and I could go on about all the tracks and these moments in detail, but I don’t think it comes across the same. The show ended with the crowd entering into the Orville Peck Gang by participating with him for a track, they did an encore and with a full venue “YEEHAW!”, the show was over.
Truly a great show, great band and great artist. Go see Orville Peck if you haven’t. And if you have…go again!
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SETLIST (as on stage – it may have changed):
Daytona Sand
Turn To Hate
The Curse of the Blackened Eye
Lafayette
C’mon Baby Cry
Winds Change
Drive Me, Crazy
No Glory in the West
Outta Time
Any Turn
All I Can Say
Blush
He is Mountain
Legends Never Die
Kalahari Down
Dead of Night
Bronco
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Let Me Drown
[From what I remember, he did not perform this as I was anticipating it]
Take You Back