Gig Review: Groeni @ Wine Cellar, Auckland 16/10/15

The night’s line-up opened with DJ Martyn Pepperell, followed by 2-piece band Monticola and then Auckland-based Keepsakes. All three were of quite varied genres and there was no apparent cohesion between the opening acts which made the initial tone-set of the EP release a bit disjointed.

When Groeni finally took the stage, it was an understated, slow-rising start that built up to a pre-recorded Siri voice taking on all counts of crowd interaction, announcing “We are Groeni” and “Thank you to Wine Cellar” at oddly phased intervals.

There were some great moments; Hedre live was a particular favourite, but there were some sound level issues that muddied the overall intimacy of the setting and broke up the congruity between songs.

The band presented themselves in a line across the stage and no member seemed to dominate the focus or draw particular attention as ‘the front person’ which was quite refreshing.

They head-bobbed in time with each other and the sparse vocals were solid, but the overall experience was sub-par. Live, it was like watching an upstart band jamming in their garage – not in terms of musical proficiency, but simply for the feeling that the performance would have been the same with or without the audience’s presence.