The last date in The Jordan Luck Band and Ekko Park tour
came to a blinding end at Pukekohe’s Cosmopolitan Club.
With the average demographic well into the forties and fifties
(with a smattering of us in the younger generations) it was a night that
rocked, whatever your age was.
Kicking things off was the unstoppable Aucklanders, Ekko Park,
fronted by their charismatic Irish frontman, Joe Walsh. It was all ears, and
even if the majority were there just for Jordan Luck, I could see a fair few
nodding their heads in appreciation, after all, Rock doesn’t discriminate.
For an odd choice of venue, it was packed and the crowd jovial,
which made for a cool atmosphere. Ekko Park didn’t hold back and played a solid
set from their first two albums, 2013’s Tomorrow Tomorrow Today and
2015’s Know Hope, with a smattering of gems from the
yet-to-be-unveiled 2018 album, currently in progress. Their set included a
blinding cover of Gloria and David Bowie's Heroes.
If that wasn’t nearly enough for the waiting crowd, Guitarist Alex
Hargreaves turned things up a notch by jumping on a table in rock star glory
during one of their songs, much to the delight of punters. This is certainly
something you wouldn’t typically see at the Cossie Club - making the most out
of venues and having fun is what it's all about and Ekko Park delivered just
that.
The man himself, Jordan Luck took to the stage bang on 9:30pm,
and within seconds the partly empty floor erupted with a swarm of people that
seemingly came out of nowhere, ready and waiting to get their boogie on. Within
those few seconds, Jordan Luck had the crowd eating out of his hand, not that
it needed much effort with such a willing crowd.
Hit after hit had droves of people cemented firmly on that dance
floor all night, including Victoria, How Is the Air Up
There and plenty of other Exponents gems.
The sound was pitch perfect, which can be hit or miss in any venue, but
thankfully they had a fantastic sound engineer at the helm, Kyle.
Added to Jordan’s impeccable stage presence and lovable boyish
charm was the rest of band ‘fantasy’ line-up that included Ekko Park’s, Joe
Walsh on guitar, Daniel 'Beaver' Pooley (formally of The D4) on
drums, Bryan Bell (ex-frontman of 90's outfit, Dead Flowers)
on guitar, and former founding member of The D4, Rich Mixture on bass. A hell
of a line-up and their energies combined made for a ferocious good night and
plenty of sing-a-long national treasures; Hello Sailor's Blue
Lady (a personal favourite) La La Lulu and the aptly
named, I’ll Say Goodbye (Even Though I'm Blue), that Jordan
dedicated to Beaver over his recent heartbreak loss.
When all was said and done, they ended the night with a rapturous encore
that included fan favourite, Why Does Love Do This To Me, as happy
and drunk punters exited the floor, beaming smiles all round from a truly great
evening.
Review written by Kerry Monaghan
‘Legend’ is a word suffering from chronic overuse syndrome these days, but when it comes to Jordan Luck, the word regains it’s full meaning and one the NZ public associates with this true blue Kiwi artist. This affection is obviously felt amongst his musical peers as well who bestowed Jordan the honour of Inaugural Inductee into the New Zealand Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame. As front man and pop-writing genius with the legendary Exponents, he clocked up a staggering 18 Top 40 singles over the years, with Victoria recently voted by public as the 8th greatest New Zealand song of all time. These days on any given weekend you will hear packed stadiums of sports fans singing in unison (if not in-tune) Why Does Love Do This To Me? a song that seems to have taken on the mantle as the ‘unofficial’ alternative NZ national anthem.
THE JORDAN LUCK BAND is the new super deluxe Frankenstein incarnation backing the iconic kiwi singer these days. Every gig the band play the best of all those iconic tracks we know and love as well as a collection of recently penned and possible future stadium sing-a-longs of tomorrow. Meticulously designed by Jordan himself from the ground up this band has just the one purpose...to bring Jordan’s blend of pop rock genius from the past, present and future… back to the masses!
Hand-picked from a wish-list of players Jordan wanted to work with the word went out, his fantasy starting line up were contacted and unsurprisingly they all signed up, there was no need to refer to the list of reserves…so, starting from the stage right part of the paddock…