Lucy & Dave Dobbyn Singing Tour
Report from: Leanne at Kiwi Attic - 27 December 2002
AFTER a hectic drive over from Napier the day following Christmas, when all you really want to do is sleep off the excess consumption of food, we found ourselves in Taupo and headed to the Great Lakes Centre to be pleasantly welcomed by a full window poster of Lucy and Dave atop a moped! First thought "I gotta get some of those!!" (thus far proving more difficult than I thought).
We had arrived 10 minutes before starting time and found a prime possie up near the front. I was surprised at the wide range of ages in the audience from the youngest at about 12, who had already sat themselves on the floor beside us, a great plan as it turned out as there was a lot of waiting. Anika Moa, a recently discovered NZ talent, played for 30 minutes or so till 8.45pm. For the next half hour people kept arriving, mingling and waiting, the smell of bourbon got stronger and the crowd gradually became "antsy". At 9.15pm, half an hour after Anika, the front crowd started clapping impatiently amid the odd "Come on Dave" and "We want Lucy" call going out. Finally, with an enthusiastic welcome, Dave came on stage (entering on the right) with his band taking their places. I looked around anxiously for Lucy, who I saw in the background on the left and looking a tad nervous – I certainly felt for her! Dave did intro's to the band, launched into his first song and Lucy inconspicuously joined him at the microphone, tambourine in hand. She looked fantastic!! Trading in the leather clad outfit for blue denim hipsters, rouged elastic white cotton crop top and showing a midriff you would not expect to see on a mother-of-three. Her hair was down around her face, retro sneakers, no jewelry except her wedding rings. Natural, unassuming and stunning!
Lucy's comfort grew as the songs wore on and she began interacting more with Dave and on occassion the crowd, shooting a few grins at the group of intoxicated young men in front of us, ( who would have looked more at home at a Limp Bizkit concert ) and who cheered "Yeah Lucy", which gradually became "come on Dave, give Lucy a go." Amid them having domestics with
their girlfriends & the girl on my right continually on her cell phone, I thought they were in for a tough crowd. Just at that moment things warmed up as Dave launched into a well known NZ song of his, and Lucy began asserting a bit more confidence with the harmonising and showed great rhythm with the tambourine.
Lucy's solo performance was "Maxine" by Sharon O'Neil - and a fantastic rendition it was to. She had a powerful voice when in full stride. ( I had goosebumps an all ) This really got the crowd going. The night continued in this fashion, unfortunately I didn't get to stay for the last few songs since the 2.5 hour drive home was looking ominous as the clock neared 10.45pm.( and with an early rise at 5.30am I had to make a choice! ) But, now knowing that they will be in Palmerston North, my home city, in early January & that video cameras were not frowned on, we're going again and taking the Palm Corder! I think I got some great shots - we'll see this 'arvo'', & I got the name of the promoter from the ticket seller, so will have to make some phone calls later today. I had hoped there'd be some CD's or T Shirts or something - perhaps after the tour ???? who knows.
Lucy said on the interview last week that she wasn't looking to be a pop superstar or anything like that, but in my opinion she'd be more preferable to some at the moment! I think 'good on her' for taking the risk, it will really pay off toward the end as she gets into the swing of things. It's not something I aspire to or am I capable of doing, But I loved seeing her
perform - it was fantastic!!!!
Here is a link to our page with a selection of the photos I took. http://kiwiattic.bizland.com/Xena/otheritems/tourphotos.htm
