My first week at the NZ International Arts Festival

Last updated 09:02 09/03/2010

Well, it did not start well - for me. The first gig I had to check out was The Yellowjackets. I'm not sure quite why anyone would want to defend The Yellowjackets and their brand of insipid elevator-jazz/dinner-music-in-the-early-1990s/jazz-fusion but there are a few comments on the review doing just that.

And that's fair enough. I don't understand it - but people are allowed to write what they want (at least people unhappy with reviewers not writing what they want are allowed to write what they want. I should clarify).

Anyway - here's the review of The Yellowjackets at the arts festival last week.

And - you can click here to join the Facebook Group: Stop Simon Sweetman Reviewing Jazz Gigs. This (presumably serious; very serious) group seems to have popped up as a direct result of the review of The Yellowjackets.

(I think they got the vowels in the last two words of the group's title around the wrong way...but, that's just me...)

Next up was Djan Djan a trio featuring Jeff Lang (guitar), Bobby Singh (tabla) and Mamadou Diabate (kora). I loved this gig - the music flowed from the stage; the musicians were communicating with each other and with the audience. They seemed happy, we were happy.

I had hoped this gig would be superb - but you never know with the Arts Festival. Fortunately it was superb. The band's self-titled debut CD is great. I have been listening to it since the gig on Wednesday night.

You can read the review of the show here.

Last Thursday saw 13 Most Beautiful - a show featuring Dean & Britta (of Luna) performing live soundtracks to Andy Warhol's screen-tests. I interviewed Dean Wareham the other week, previewing the show. Lovely stuff - really enjoyed this performance...

Review for 13 Most Beautiful can be read here.

Saturday night was the Nina Simone tribute show, Sing The Truth: Nina Simone Remembered. The four vocalists featured in the show were Lizz Wright, Simone (Nina's daughter), Patti Austin and Dianne Reeves.

It also featured Al Shackman, Nina Simone's band leader and guitarist. The show ran the risk of being pretty cheesy and lightweight - and then Reeves stepped up to the plate and knocked a home run. I wouldn't say this gig was amazing - but it was worth seeing.

I would say that Dianne Reeves offered one of the greatest singing performances I have ever had the pleasure to experience. I had shivers down my spine and up my arms. I was, at one point, transfixed; I caught myself staring, mouth open. She was amazing. And I pretty much did say (some of) that.

For the full review of Sing The Truth: Nina Simone Remembered click here.

So that is my recap of the first week's events. Only one Facebook group has been set up (as far as I know). There are no comments on the positive reviews. I don't know if that's interesting or not - it's just a simple observation.

And speaking of simple observations - the Pacific Blue Festival Club, a makeshift venue set up for the Arts Festival is, frankly, a bit of a joke. An old shed (Shed 6 down at Wellington's waterfront) has been pointlessly transformed in to a faux-bar and a faux-performance space.

You walk in - straight up a pointless scaffold staircase with red lights bathing the red steps.

There's a bar. That's fine. Why would anyone want to just watch music when they can walk in late with a glass of wine, right?

And then you walk straight down the other side of the pointless elevation, down in to a pit where a stage has been placed and some ridiculously tight seats have been jammed in.

The Dominion Post had this to say about the seating last week.

And from the stage, for the bands, it looks like they are playing to a school gymnasium. It's a joke. This might be a saving on the original tent that used to be shipped over for the festival, sure, but the amount of money that has been spent on design here (for something that ends up totally lacking) could have gone towards another group, couldn't it? Something? Anything? A real jazz band perhaps?

Anyway - that was week one for me. A not entirely weak one - mostly enjoyable. Week two should be great - tonight I've got Antibalas and tomorrow it's Don McGlashan; then Calexico on Thursday (I'm very excited about this one as I've missed their previous visits to NZ).

I'll be sure to fill you in on week two.

But for now - what festival shows have you seen to this week? And did you like them? Or were you underwhelmed? Do you have any shows you're going to in week two or week three? Or are there shows you wished you had gone to but didn't?

And how are your knees holding up? Or should I ask how your chin is doing? You've probably been rubbing it with your kneecap for the best part of two hours each night that you step in to the Pacific Blue Festival Club.

See here for what is left in the 2010 NZ International Arts Festival.

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