Ivy Christchurch show opened with Ragweed and closed with a DJ duo playing house tracks.
Ragweed was more of a head bangy set. I took notice of the crowd head banging.
Ivy’s music was more variable, but I believe that the crowd was enjoying it. There were parts of their music where I really got into it. Additionally, I was impressed by some of the vocal skills of the lead singer, Jesse Hanan. I think that he should lean into that aspect for some new songs. I think that Jesse has a good voice, and I did like the rhythm of the songs.
They were well lit. There were no annoying, blinding strobe lights. This was the same for all acts.
My brother, who is more familiar with rock than I am, liked the music. He said that he hadn’t seen such head banging since the nineties.
As far as numbers, I would rate the crowd as a fairly good size. The fans were respectful.
Ivy had good energy. They seemed to be good natured when they were not performing. They did have a few technical difficulties, such as a faulty cable. I was very impressed of the handling of this. I don’t think the experience was impacted significantly. Things were fixed very swiftly.
I am in a wheelchair, and I don’t like the venue the band chose. It’s not accessible for my electric wheelchair. I would just encourage the band to book accessible venues. There were a few steps. I went to a rave afterwards, and there was a flight of stairs. So, it was definitely not the worse venue, but not the best. The lack of strobe lights makes the experience more accessible to those with epilepsy. So, this is a positive on the accessibility side.
I also liked the two female DJs at the end. I am not the biggest fan of house, but I definitely got into the music on this set. From memory, they were using a computer to DJ.
Overall, this gig was a great experience with good music.
