Gig Review: Reb Fountain @ MTG Century Theatre, Napier – 12/04/2025

Reb Fountain, touring in support of her new album How Love Bends, visited Te-Matau-a-Maui’s MTG Theatre, and absolutely rocked the house!

Opening act was the previously-unencountered Pete Moriarty, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Mr Dave Khan. Must’ve been his long-lost twin! Whatever the resemblance, though, he delivered an unbroken 20 minutes of layered sounds, fashioning a rich collage from many disparate elements. Principal among these was spoken-word, a sampling of a Laurie Anderson reading of words of Karen Solnit, revolving around a theme of care and love. Inspiring stuff, in these times where such concepts may almost seem like dirty words, in some Trumped-up circles!

After a suitable break, the band (Karin Canzek-bass, Earl Robertson-drums, and Dave Khan-almost everything else!) took to the stage, setting up a powerful intro to current single He Commands You To Jump Into The Sea, before Reb came striding confidently out and proceeded to own the stage for the next hour and change! The first four songs were all drawn from the album, and demonstrate the continual progression in Reb’s sound. Coming on with whole new levels of sonic attack, perhaps best encapsulated in Forever, with it’s fast pace and vocal gymnastics, leading in to the languid How Love Bends. A very impressive opening barrage, getting things off to a great start.

Having done the (sometimes-dreaded) “this is a new song” bit for four songs solid, it was time to play something perhaps a little more familiar, in the form of Hey Mom. Channeling the successes and failures of parenting and being parented, this was a beautifully emotional rendering, one which I’m sure touched many a soul (well it sure as anything touched my black heart!). This was followed by an amped-up rendition of Samson, one which added a considerable heft, for an interesting demonstration of the development of the band’s delivery. Kind of the same, but with more swagger! This added element persisted through to a supremely assured Beastie, and made the “wanna be adored” hook of Come Down into a self-fulfilling declaration-she had everyone in the palm of her hand by this point!

A drop-dead cover of John Lennon’s Working Class Hero, together with the Tino Rangatiratanga and Palestinian flags prominently on display, reminded us that this is an artist with opinions – and all power to her bow in expressing them, particularly in an age where so many are ready to sacrifice principles at the altar of a petulant and unnaturally tinted manchild! Memorial with its slow build and call to “come dance in the shadows” made for an absolutely compelling finale to the main set, making a return to the stage essential.

And such was granted, with a (louder) Faster, its familiar guitar motif, in the spirit of the event, just a notch extra! New song Nothing Like fitted in perfectly in the middle of this three-song farewell, before it was in to the powerfully brooding Don’t You Know Who I Am, for a suitably dramatic close-out to the evening. Leaving on a high note indeed-an audience left aware that they’d just seen something very special, from an artist that continues to blossom and develop, backed up by a band in great form. There are numerous more shows to come, around the motu-and extremely worth catching if you can!

Photo Credit: Ally Carline
Reb Fountain gallery