Einstein Music Journal

The Brunettes (Live) Review

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

The Brunettes with TeenWolf and Holiday With Friends at Bar Bodega, Wellington, Saturday May 5th 2007

I'd been talking about this gig for a while so my when I burst into Bodega on Saturday night I was in a very cheerful mood. Wellington folk hadn't had a chance to see the Brunettes for more than two years. Now living in the states and signed to Subpop, the band very rarely venture back home.

Opening the night were locals Holiday With Friends, the band have become minor celebrities of the Wellington indie scene and if you haven't seen them yet you must have been living in a hole somewhere. Like always the band charmed the hats of the audience, bringing everyone to their feet and reminding many that Holiday With Friends are their new favourite band. I managed to finally grad a copy of their demo (self produced EP) so look out for a coming MP3 post featuring them.

Next up were Auckland's TeenWolf, in between acts I'd talked to a fellow music critic who said they were awesome. Indeed TeenWolf were awesome, much tighter than HWF and more raw and punchy. They describe themselves as 'Basically a Pixies cover band' but their sound is very much their own, heavily influenced by the Pixies. Like HWF, TeenWolf played a good long set, which included the new single 'Bloxx War'

And then the Brunettes, the charming, cutesy cute Brunettes. Heather Mansfield took the stage wearing a polka-dot dress, while Jonathan Bree wore a wicked little knitted vest (which he removed half way through the set, explaining it's just to hot for the vest tonight). As expected they were jovial in their performance, and seemed delighted to be playing to such an appreciative audience. The set was full of Brunettes classics, 'Polyester Meets Acetate', 'The Moon and June Stuff' and the new number one hit single 'Her Hairagami Set' were just a few highlights. After Jonathan Bree declared the Brunettes don't play encores they invited TeenWolf back on stage to finish with a romping cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born To Run'. It ended the night brilliantly and at 2am I made the trek home bouncing to the memories of the Brunettes, HWF and TeenWolf.

To see photos from this gig click here, Neonsleep

posted by Nick Fulton @ 11:14 am