Review by Carolyn S
kioblu@ihug.co.nzPerformance: 2 January 2003 - Silverdale Wade Hotel
Last night I made it to The Lucy & Dave Summer Tour at the Silverdale Wade Hotel. Silverdale is a nothing town a little north of Auckland and about 30-40 minutes drive from where I live.
The Wade Hotel is a pretty ordinary barn of a place that opens into a grassed yard where there was a little stage set up. People were queuing for drinks. There was a table outside where some people were barbequing sausages, wrapping them in a piece of white bread with a dollop of onions & tomato sauce - and this food seemed to be very popular. It was an assorted crowd in ages and levels of coolness. This was a real Kiwi summer hols laid back social get together - probably not a lot else to do in Silverdale.
It's been brilliant weather - sunny and hot for the last few days and Silverdale is close to some holiday beaches.
It was possible to walk in after most of the crowd, and sit on a piece of grass a yard or two from the little stage. Most people seemed to be happy to be away from the stage drinking and chatting while they waited for the acts to start.
When Anika came on a bunch of young people at the front decided to stand up. I was a little pissed, expecting to be able to sit back, with a good view and enjoy a relaxed show. I was wrong. Anika Moa was a bit boring IMO. And then Dave came on stage the rest of us decided to join the young folks standing. I moved a little forward to get in front of the big guys - not a densely-packed crowd - lots of space to move. That's how I ended up standing in the front row, right in front of the little thigh-high fence about 2 feet from the stage. Dave & Lucy's mics were on the other side of the stage from me - about a yard or two away.
The band was 2 guitars, drums and a guy on the key boards. Dave was mostly on a (3rd) guitar, sometimes on a second key board, and sometimes standing singing with a tambourine. Lucy was on a tambourine & maracas.
Dave sang a couple of songs first, then he introduced Lucy & the crowd gave a big cheer. She came on stage and launched straight into a rocking version of "Maxine". She had on black hipster trousers, trainers (heh - those white shoes) and a different top from the piccies Kiwi Attic showed. She had a white halter-neck top that came down about to the top of her trousers - most of the time - she was jigging about a lot and wiggling her hips. I do believe she was also wearing a bra under the top, with black and white horizontal stripes.
The music was mostly up-beat and quite rocky - more than I'd expected from Dave knowing what he was like on disc. I was also surprised how much the young folks around the front were into both Dave and Lucy. We all were jiggling up and down in time to most of the songs, and the crowd around me were singing along with a lot of Dave's songs, and also to Lucy's ones.
Mostly Lucy was back-up vocalist, and really I couldn't tell how good she was. The band was loud, and Dave's voice came across more loud and clear than Lucy's, and the crowd around me were also singing loudly a lot of the time.
After Lucy did back-up on a few Dave songs, Dave announced Lucy was going to do a song - to a loud cheer from the crowd. Then Lucy did a really rocking version of "I'm Special" (Pretenders). I've been to a few Lucy singing gigs around Auckland over the last few years, but I've never seen her looking so loose, happy and smiling. She really seemed to be enjoying her self, playing the rocker chick. She sounded really good on "I'm Special" - performed it well - a bit sassy in the facial expressions and body moves.
Then some more of Dave singing, and Lucy backing up, til Dave announced the next song was about weapons of mass destruction. This was done more as a Lucy and Dave duet, with each of them doing some lines solo and some together. It was "Oliver's Army (Elvis Costello Song) - again a very upbeat, rockin' version, with the crowd dancing and singing along. Lucy had a bit of rapport with some of the crowd in front of her at times, waving her arm in the air, mimicking them and pointing and smiling at individuals while she was singing. Some of the guys were calling out "Lucy" every so often.
Lucy also did a song that I didn't know. You may know it. I think it started, "Don't you touch my leg " [or you'll want to touch my thigh]. She did it very vamp-style. Throughout the gig she'd been wearing a lei (spelling - Hawaiian colourful thing), that had been hanging on her mic. During this song she took it off and used it like clothing taken off in a strip tease, and she did a stripper-type dance around the stage - who said Lucy can't dance!!! The crowd loved it and were whooping and yelling.There were similar lei's on other mics. At one point Dave loooked at a couple and said: "We like to believe we live in the South Pacific...... AND WE DO!!!!"
The Dave & Lucy stint lasted about an hour and a half, then they did a least 20 minutes of encores, finishing just before midnight. Before Dave started on his first encore, he thanked Lucy - said she was a really good singer and a "good bloke" too. Lucy responded by flexing her arm, and then holding her hands in front of the zip of her trousers, like she was holding a d.dd...ermm. an appendage. Dave told people to try to get on with their families over the hols, along with a string of things he wished to happen for people including not getting sand up their cracks.
I had expected it to be more laid-back country than rock. But Dave's voice live seemed a little more raw blues and rock than from what I'd heard of him on disc. The Dave & Lucy show was a helluva lot more fun than I'd really
expected.
Carolyn S
