On a chilly Te-Matau-A-Maui evening, Devilskin brought the warmth to a capacity crowd at Hastings’ ToiToi, with the help of a few friends. Probably the loudest the old girl’s been for some time, as they celebrated the 10th anniversary of the release of debut album We Rise. Introducing the evening were Tamaki Makaurau’s Skinny Hobos, a duo making enough noise for three times their number. The combination of guitar and drums draws comparison with Poneke’s The Bravo Uniform Mikes, but the Hobos are like the older, more experienced sibling - a little more responsible, a little less anarchic - but just as loud and proud! Joking that they’d never played somewhere as grand as ToiToi while speculating that they wouldn’t be allowed in if not for the gig, they warmed up the stage nicely for what was to come.

Second on the bill were the reformed Tadpole, taking us back 20 years to a more innocent time! With guest vocalist Emma Dilemma, drafted in to take the place of Renee Brennan (and given her imprimatur), the band showed they’d lost none of the drive that made them so popular the first time around. With their crunch and power they were clearly popular with the crowd, belting out the favourites, such as Backdoor, For You, Alright and a good few more besides, having a generous 45-odd minutes at their disposal. Minutes that were well used, amping up the atmosphere by bringing back the memories, laying the ground for the main act, and likely gaining a few new fans along the way!

But the crowd knew who they were really there for, and as the strains of Van Halen’ s Running With the Devil signalled their imminent arrival, excitement ramped up another notch, to erupt as Devilskin took to the stage with Elvis Presley Circle Pit. With this full-frontal attack, they showed that they were here to rock this (Opera) house, clearly relishing the experience almost as much as the audience. Little Pills, with its deliciously chunky riffage continued in the same vein, leading in to a triumphant Vessel and Start A Revolution. This was a band, and audience, who knew what they were there for, and nobody left disappointed!

Never See The Light, dedicated to Shoki Kamishima, introduced a slightly more sombre note to proceedings, marked by Paul’s instruction to ‘Look out for each other’ - necessary advice at all times, more so in these fragile ones we find ourselves in. Nail’s impressive guitar solo led in to the slower pace of Burning Tree, sung to the light of a few hundred phone torches, building to an explosive finale. Violation was introduced by Nail, pointing out that they were ‘going to play the whole fuckin’ album’ (which should have been obvious by that point, given that there were only about 3 songs left to complete the set!). And as such, once the album was brought to its defiant conclusion in the form of Dirt, so the main set concluded, but nobody was going anywhere yet!

Such a brilliant main set demanded an encore, and this was kicked off by a storming rendition of Barracuda, achieving the feat of simultaneously bringing things right up to date and recalling a past that predated many of the audience members, being a cover of a nearly 50-year old song (yes, you read that right-it was originally released in 1977!) from Heart (when they were still worth listening to, long before the execrable later numbers that saw them gain chart success). The encore covered off the rest of the career in quick succession, with Barracuda and Unborn from this year’s Surfacing EP, Corrode from 2020’s Red, and Voices from second album Be Like the River, before concluding with mission statement We Rise. And on that note, it was all over, a hugely entertained audience dissipating in to the cool night air, being close to midnight and the conclusion of nearly 4 hours of great music, loud enough to scare away any demons, and test the soundness of the building’s earthquake strengthening! Off to await the next visitation of one of Aotearoa’s most entertaining, and committed, live bands-till we meet again!

Photo Credit: Amanda Hodge / It's The Little Things
Photos from Palmerston North show on 14 June
Devilskin Photo Gallery
Tadpole Photo Gallery
Skinny Hobos Photo Gallery

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