After waiting many years to see this live act again, the show definitely lived up to their stellar reputation as one of New Zealand’s great punk rock bands.
I went to this show with a group of friends and straight after walking through the door and securing a refreshing Tiger beer (or two) it was like old times at one of my favourite rock shows. Nothing beats good friends, epic tunes and beers.
The evening kicked off with Ryan Thomas (Sommerset/Lord of Tigers) on the acoustic. I was looking forward to this and to seeing this guy sing again (last time was at the Pennywise concert in March). Raw vocals accompanied with a crisp sounding guitar made for a great opener and nice way to get things started. He’s a talented lad.
The Lucha is small but intimate setting made for a loud and packed out gig, just the way it should be. Kitsch started the set by running through some killer new songs off their upcoming album Plastic Lives including their new one Mouse Mouth that got everyone moving. Kitsch’s unique sound is made up by Sam’s unique punk vocals, nicely blended bass tones, fast guitar riffs and chord progressions with Ben and new member Hadleigh (Cobra Khan/Bleeders), topped off with fast as f*ck drums by Dan. All the right ingredients for a kick ass show.
Overall the live set was a whole lot of fun. There was a mix of new as well as some tracks from their last album The Burning Ground, including ending their set with Memory of Me, which has lived on my iTunes playlist for many years. I looked up during moshing out to this song and the room clearly was also moving about just as much. Mean as night out, finished off by a White Lady burger before walking home. Good times.
It was definitely one of my highlights for 2014 shows, and chuffed that these guys are back on the scene.
Watch out for their new upcoming album and if you weren’t fortunate enough to make it to this gig, don’t hesitate to get a ticket for the next one.
Do it.
Smashing out pop rock sensibility with a punk rock attitude.
Retaining its core members for over two decades, Kitsch delivered the next phase in their evolution in 2014, an album of epic depths, prepare yourself for Plastic Lives.
Tapping into modern states of mind, internet anonymity and global