Bic Runga performed her biggest hits at the Auckland Town Hall on Friday night. Photo: Tom Grut
Hoping to get some summer road trip vibes in the middle of winter, Katie Fitzgerald headed along to Bic Runga's Auckland Town Hall concert.
Bic Runga is currently celebrating 20 years since her second solo album Beautiful Collision and gave a sold-out audience the chance to hear it start to finish at the Auckland Town Hall on Friday.
Hoping to get some summer road trip vibes in the middle of winter, I headed along.
Auckland's concert is part of the Elemental Nights programme, a festival of arts and culture throughout the city which mostly means many of the buildings have lasers and lights shining on them, and when I arrived at the concert, I found a series of lasers shining across Civic Square, and a fairly decent line of people headed into the Town Hall.
It would be safe to say most of the attendees were probably old enough to drink when Beautiful Collision was first released, and not all of them understood how concerts work.
I overheard multiple conversations from people who didn't realise the main act would not be on at the door opening time listed on the ticket, and a couple of them decided to leave and come back closer to the starting time.
Georgia Lines was the opening act. Photo: Tom Grut
The opener was Georgia Lines. I will admit I only know one of her songs, which she didn't play, but she easily won the crowd over.
Lines was funny and casual during the chat, and seriously belting during the songs.
She played mostly her own songs, aside from a cover of Olivia Rodrigo's 'Drivers Licence' picked by audience vote, and 'Hine E Hine' a Māori lullaby written around 1907 and covered by other artists like Kiri Te Kanawa, Hayley Westenra, and The Phoenix Foundation.
The audience seemed to switch between two modes during Lines' set.
During the chat, it was full throated laughter and as soon as the music started, a hush came over the crowd to listen to her. It was clear that most of the audience was there for Runga (with the notable exception of one girl named Maddie, who judging by how she performed in the vote was somehow mostly there for Rodrigo), but I doubt there would be any complaints about Lines' performance.
Runga opened her set singing the first track from Beautiful Collision 'When I See You Smile' and was joined by the band for the second song onward.
As far as set lists go, it was very straightforward. Beautiful Collision was played from start to finish and some bonus songs were tacked on to the end because one does not simply go to a Bic Runga concert and not hear 'Sway' or 'Drive'.
Beautiful Collision as an album is a little all over the place, which Runga noted, going from the country-music sounding 'The Be All and End All' through to the drum and base beat in 'Election Night', and vaguely 1940s sound of 'Honest Goodbyes'.
It does contain some of Runga's big singles though, 'Get Some Sleep', 'Something Good', and 'Listening for the Weather' all featured.
Bic Runga had some concertgoers dancing. Photo: Tom Grut
Unlike Lines, Runga did not linger on the chat between songs, but we did get some personal anecdotes, a few jokes, and a brief introduction to the band.
The audience was, as one could almost expect from an audience slightly on the older side, a bit calmer than I am used to.
It was fully seated, and most people spent the entire concert in their seats, but during 'Listening for the Weather' a gaggle of women rushed to the front and started dancing.
From my vantage point, I could see they were trying to encourage others to take part with limited success, and they returned to their seats when the song ended.
It was clear the audience was enjoying themselves throughout the concert though. They were attentive and engaged, there was laughter during the chat, hardly a cell phone in sight and a fair amount of dancing in seats, but few were willing to get on their feet.
Dancing concert attendees during 'Listening for the Weather'. Photo: RNZ/Katie Fitzgerald
Runga moved on to other music when she ran out of Beautiful Collision tracks to play.
'Drive' came first, followed by a brand-new song called 'You're Never Really Here (Are You Baby?)' and then a return to her earlier work with 'Bursting Through'.
The encore, although traditionally a little awkward to start, was one of the highlights of the concert.
Runga returned to the stage with a grin and thanked the audience for participating in the ritual of cheering until the artist returned, before remarking that her kids have never had the chance to see this happen.
She then launched in to 'Sway', and it felt like the audience unleashed every amount of enthusiasm they could muster.
The small cluster of dancing women let loose up in the front row and even managed to bring some new members with them.
Once the song had ended, she took a bow along with the band and returned to the wings, meeting with a small figure that had been standing off to the side of stage holding an iPhone and catching the whole thing on video.