Cairo Knife Fight Live @ Mighty Mighty, 23/11/12

I’m used to seeing Cairo Knife Fight opening for other touring acts, or at showcases where they play shorter sets, so it was a great opportunity to see them headline their own show. I’d also never seen Decortica live, but had heard a lot of good things about their live show, so was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.

As it was Cairo Knife Fight’s “tour”, if three quick shows around the country can count as a tour, Decortica were up first. Despite only being a three piece they struggled to fit on Mighty Mighty’s smallish stage; the lack of space was only amplified when frontman Mathew Bosher really got going, which took all of the opening riff of their first song. Decortica are a band that know how to rock hard, wrestling the songs from their instruments and flailing about the stage. It was a high energy performance and one that got the usually quiet Wellington crowd up and drew them into the music. There were plenty of tracks from the new album 11811, including one of my favourites ‘Helix’, as well as a few from the last album. It seemed like a short set, but it definitely got people buzzing.

Cairo Knife Fight got off to a more relaxed start and seemed to lack the intensity of previous gigs. Instead it was a laid back affair as they made their way through a lengthy set (by their standards anyway), full of huge layered drum beats and plenty of guitar artistry. Usually guitarist Aaron Tokona would stalk the stage like he was possessed by the spirits of rock gods past, but he seemed almost glued to the spot at Mighty Mighty, spending much of the set watching drummer Nick Gaffaney from the middle of the stage; although looking at the size of his pedal board he didn’t have a lot of room to move about anyway. It didn’t matter much to the vocal crowd though, who seemed to lap up every second of their set. It was great to see the duo able to set their own pace through their songs, rather than be restricted by headline acts or other time constraints.

All up it was a great night of music from two of the most interesting bands in NZ rock at the moment, and a great chance to see both in one night. Let’s hope we get to see more shows like that from both these bands.