Gig Review: Jan Hellriegel @ The Piano, Christchurch – 04/10/2024

It’s always a treat to get to go see a show at Christchurch’s beautiful The Piano, and sit in its stunning auditorium. Unfortunately, I arrived slightly late due to some teenage hijinks on the home front, so I missed the start of Steffany Beck’s set. Luckily, I still managed to catch five songs.

Originally from the US, but now firmly and proudly Kiwi, Steffany has already racked up some impressive achievements in her thus-far short career, including writing with Bic Runga, Miranda Easten, and Chris Childs, and performing with Jason Kerrison and Kaylee Bell. Steffany held the stage confidently, her strong, clear voice along with her rich and full guitar tone creating a big and powerful sound. Her set included I Have A Dream, the title inspired by Martin Luther King’s speech, a cover of the Cranberries’ Zombie, and Hell & Back, co-written with Miranda Easten (who recorded the song as a duet with Steffany) and Chris Childs, a song currently burning up the charts in Tasmania, where they’ve been nominated for Duo Of The Year by the Tasmanian Independent Country Music Awards.

Then it was time for the bold and beautiful Jan Hellriegel to hit the stage, resplendent in a floral-print dress and “work boots… because this is a job”. The show began with a song played on acoustic guitar, a song about her music career, including other part-time jobs she’s had along the way (and as we were to learn, those jobs were many, varied, and came with fascinating stories). She explained quite early on in the piece that we should expect a show quite unlike anything we’d seen before, and that was a perfectly accurate summation.

This was not your standard show, more of an opening up of the heart and soul, with a theme of “Here are the stories of my life that has been so far, and here’s where I’m taking things next”. Stories of proudly wearing schoolyard scars, and thinking it was really cool to show classmates how pus could be squeezed from them. Stories of captive pigs being liberated for the high art of music videos. Stories of a young all-female band almost inciting a riot. Stories of a beloved Dad, lost too soon but his love still keenly felt. All interspersed with her well-crafted songs, including sitting at the piano and debuting three songs from the musical she has written (and songs from her album/book Sportsman Of The Year… overachiever, much?). She played songs about love, songs about hurt, songs that encompassed an extraordinary, adventurous life. The audience hung on her every word, and she joyfully interacted with them too. It was clear that Jan was absolutely in her element, and she frequently announced how happy she was to be doing what she does.

Her performance ran for close to two hours, and she was all energy the entire time. If you have an opportunity to see any of the remaining shows on her If Not Now, When? tour, you’d be ripping yourself off, by not going. Don’t do that to yourself, go see her, you deserve it. And I promise, you won’t regret it. Thanks for having me Jan, magic stuff.