23 Jan 2017 // A review by Paul Goddard
These radio promo gigs are a strange thing. I have been to a few now and like a good portion of the people tonight, I am not here necessarily as a fan of the band. The result is an audience that is disconnected, a challenge, a crowd you have to try to impress. If you don't then people leave.

Add to the fact that the venue is Auckland's Logan Campbell centre with its lack of facilities (decent bar area), crap air conditioning and acoustics that make even the most polished band sound shite, The Naked and Famous have a challenge on their hands, but it is one they live up to. 

I missed the name of the main support act. They said it a few times but this is the Logan Campbell centre so it sounded something like "Thanks we are b$@#$fh" If someone reading this knows their name then leave a comment because they were good. Kind of stoner rock but with an indie vocal style that started off annoying but kind of grew on me.

It dawned on me that The Naked and Famous have been around and releasing music for almost 10 years now. Hard to believe as they still seem fresh and the poppier direction of the latest album Simple Forms shows the band are still pushing boundaries. It has been a while since they were last in NZ being based in LA but this was always going to be a polished performance. They start the show with The Water Beneath You, off the new album and instantly Alisa's voice gives me goosebumps. It is such a strong element of their sound and soars above any muddiness in the rest of the sound.

Higher, kicks in and the crowd gets behind the band. Then we are into All of This from Passive Aggressive and the band show why they are one of the best to come out of New Zealand. There is a dark side to The Naked and Famous which makes them stand out from other pop bands. Next up is one of my favourites Punching in a Dream and the band are finding their flow and connecting with the crowd.

There are moments where the music is uplifting then moments of melancholy creep in keeping things interesting. The band have been through challenges leading up to the release of Simple Forms but they have come out the other side stronger and more diverse. The shows will only get better.

The set is fairly long with around 17 songs and I did feel the energy drop on some of the newer songs which is to be expected with an audience of competition winners and radio execs but the band were almost faultless and enjoying themselves. The Naked and Famous deserve their position as one of New Zealand's most successful bands and based on tonight's performance they are back and ready to take on the world again.

Beyond a life hardwired to pop culture via the 24 hour news feed, The Naked And Famous elicit a romantic connection inspired by the golden era of alternative rock; a shared response to a teenage soundtrack of epic, emotionally charged mid nineties music.

Released in March 2011, their ambitious debut Passive Me, Aggressive You featured the singles, Young Blood and Punching In A Dream. Lauded by the NME, it was “A classic case of lovely and beautiful: TNAF’s passive melodicism and aggressive innovation clash in a dazzling blaze of psych/sonic fireworks” and Rolling Stone magazine described Young Blood as one of the year’s “best singles”.

Fronted by Alisa Xayalith and Thom Powers, The Naked and Famous lit a fire under an online fan base, with a video subculture built through YouTube and into radio. M83 invited TNAF to remix a single and a Tiesto remix transformed Young Blood into a club smash. Agencies fell into The Naked and Famous slipstream, and theirs became the go-to soundtrack for gaming, Hollywood and TV shows mining a zeitgeist of young and interesting.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for The Naked And Famous

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