You must buy the Eru Dangerspiel live DVD

Last year I chatted to Riki Gooch about his live Eru Dangerspiel show. He had organised a 22-piece future-funk/soul band and a choir to create a live, pulsing, writhing, thriving version of his Eru Dangerspiel album, Great News for the Modern Man.

Gooch was excited about the challenge of the show - about the cast he'd assembled. When I spoke to him he alternated between a relaxed "it'll be all good, bro" vibe to a slightly more concerned "I hope people turn up and dig it" nervousness.

The show took place last August at Auckland's Town Hall. And people definitely turned up. And they really dug it. The show was talked about for weeks afterward, months even. Into this year I was still being asked if I went and when I said that I didn't there were incredulous responses of why didn't you fly up? Several people told me they flew from Wellington to Auckland to see the show; some from the South Island too.

Well, while I'm sure those in attendance will say it is not quite the same thing, from today you can buy the show on DVD/CD - and it is definitely something New Zealanders should get behind. You must buy this. You really must.

Gooch - in his live Eru Dangerspiel persona - is an occasional drummer, synth player and beat-maker. But mostly he is a conductor, arranger, composer and life-force: he provides the energy for the project, the visual cues, the music is inside him - the musicians on stage enable him to send it out to the audience, and he helps them shape that sound on its journey.

If you go back to that interview I conducted with Gooch last year to promote the show (the link is in the opening line of this post), the quote from Riki that really sticks out for me is "I want to show New Zealand that a group like this can really channel some funk and groove, not just sit on a chord and vamp along". He was selling the show with that line, but also showing an awareness of some of the laziness that passes for funk and soul in this country.

Watching the DVD, I thought Gooch had it spot on with that line - the live Eru Dangerspiel group contains members of Dimmer, The Mutton Birds,  Opensouls, The Phoenix Foundation, Trinity Roots, Fat Freddy's Drop, Hikoikoi, Kora, Fly My Pretties, Submariner and Electric Wire Hustle. It contains singers Mara TK, Parks, Whirimako Black, Laughton Kora, Isaac Aesili and Anna Coddington. And while, obviously, that's a wealth of experience and there's some diversity in there covering rock, hip-hop, jazz, funk, pop and many points between, the musicians all gathered knowing this was about the music of Eru Dangerspiel. This was about something bigger than back-patting and fitting into a scene. This was about a vision - a sound and vibe that all on stage were communicating. And they all knew how to funk it up.

I think this show will appeal to a lot of people who are fans of the specific bands - for example an Opensouls or Electric Wire Hustle fan may well dig this. It would also be useful for Fat Freddy's Drop fans to watch this and see that this is something that band could probably get towards. But also, it's actually irrelevant. You could like this music without knowing anything about any of the bands/musicians prior, because this goes back to the tribal instincts of music: music for and about communication, a chance to connect, to conduct a spirit and vibe, to send that out to the audience and to receive the reward of encouragement and acknowledgement in return.

The DVD/CD is available today. You really should check it out.

And there is also the announcement of two new shows for this year. Wellington will get to experience the Eru Dangerspiel show at its Town Hall, and Auckland gets a repeat performance in October. Tickets will be on sale now - see here for details and/or here.

So I say you must buy this DVD. A big call? Well - possibly. By all means tell me I've got it wrong after you've watched it. I think this is an incredible document of what was quite clearly a very special show.

And if you want to have a look click here or here or here.

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