Live Review: Fat Freddy's Drop

As the musical highlight of the third GRAPHIC Festival, Fat Freddy's Drop transformed the Concert Hall into a thumping party for the animated and illustrated preview of their fourth studio album, Blackbird, due out February 2013.

In standard Fat Freddy's style, the intro was atmospheric with colourful lights, smoke and swirling projections on the walls. Deep horn blasts and a synth wash gradually welcomed the rest of the band members on stage to thunderous applause and, as the sound surged, they dropped into Wild Wind from their most recent album, Dr. Boondigga & The Big BW. From the get-go the band openly encouraged people to dance and it took less than a minute for the entire audience to abandon their seats and succumb to the ebb and flow of the music. As the beat dropped, trombonist Joe Lindsay slipped into his famous hip wiggle and the party got underway.

Bluesy number, Silver And Gold, was the first track showcased from the forthcoming album. Dallas Tamaira's honeyed voice rang out as a slow reggae groove began and the brass section soared. They debuted another brand new track, Clean The House, and mixed things up sonically a little in another new song, Mother, with their fill-in sax player swapping brass for a rare appearance (for Fat Freddy's at least) of a flute.

Blackbird provided the most exciting visual aspect of the show, with renowned New Zealand street artist Otis Frizzell painting a backdrop of giant blackbirds live. The band briefly left the stage as the audience played their part in demanding an encore and the last 20 minutes was filled with an awesome jam session that led into Shiverman, complete with live looping, a costume change and suitably outrageous dance moves from Lindsay. Fun, energetic and endlessly entertaining, the show was a perfect opening night celebration for the Festival.