Live Review: Woodlock, Fieu. Kate Gogarty

The crowd was intent on doing the social club cling for the support acts Friday night, packed tightly against the walls, as far back from the stage as possible.

Gogarty were wispy wonders, with lead singer Kate Gogarty absolutely nailing a folksy Fleetwood Mac/Kate Miller-Heidke vibe. Captivated audience members in the currently near-empty venue looked around at their friends as if to ask permission to enjoy themselves as they continued to hug the walls.

Next, Fieu turned the intensity up a little bit with some enthusiastic dancing coming from the lead singer, who had a really endearing ‘I don’t know what to do with my hands’ style, which contrasted her commanding, soulful vocals.

Woodlock burst onto stage with an energy that was carried over to massive pounds on a freestanding floor tom on centre stage for the opener. The room, now semi-full, saw the crowd decide that they could stand up for this set, producing a swathe of acoustic guitar-driven sing-alongs. The group dropped their Kiwi accents when the acoustic jangle kicked in, going for the all-too-common Mumford & Sons warble, which seems to have been the flavour of the last several years.

The band were, however, crowd-pleasers through and through, resorting to all the gimmicks in the book, forcing everyone to sit down so they could sing a cringeworthy, acoustically-driven love ballad with lyrics that included, “It took six months before I could talk to you.” The set then turned into one of those under-18s disco events; as glow-sticks were tossed into the crowd, it played like a shiny distraction from a generally mundane set.

The boys genuinely gave it all they had, but in the end, the upbeat set left a strange taste in the mouth. Perhaps it was the banter, which included lines such as, “This song’s about girls”, or the generally uninspired lyricism and familiar folk-pop fare. Luckily the support acts had already given the crowd its money’s worth, so while Woodlock didn’t necessarily add to the value, there were free glow-sticks, so it was hardly highway robbery. Every cloud…