Acoustic Church Tour

St John’s in the City.

Last night we went to a concert held at St John’s in the City here in Wellington. I had got into town early to queue if required but this wasn’t necessary so I joined Keryn and Will at the General Practitioner on Willis Street. Will has only been in New Zealand for a few weeks now, having come over to live with his kiwi wife Lydia (who Keryn and I worked with at the Warehouse while we were all at University). Lydia and Will had been living in Reading but came over when Will got a job at Victoria University. We had the two of them over for dinner, along with Sam and Jules, a few weekends back and agreed to meet up before the concert seeing as we all had tickets.

So we had a drink and then headed out to find something reasonably quick to eat. This ended up being AbraKebabra and we each had a variation on a chicken kebab which was tasty. The seating at the back of the place is decked out in wood and Turkish carpets and reminded me of touristy restaurants overseas, helped by the two Irish girls talking on the next table.

We then wandered up to the Church and milled around inside the foyer waiting for the doors to open. The organisation wasn’t the best and Keryn and I ended up in two separate queues. I was standing next to the wife of the man next to Keryn in the other queue so rather than swap around I used our two tickets to get me and the ‘other wife’ in while Keryn entered on the other guys ticket, all very strange.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Inside the Church.

Inside Lydia and Will had found seats in the second row right up the front. The Church is an all wooden construction and is very well maintained. The pews also had a nice cushion running the length of the seat and it was quite comfortable.

There were four main performers with various band members as well. First up was Lydia Cole, a newcomer to the NZ music scene playing sweet singer-songwriter numbers. The acoustics were good and her set, while short, was pleasant and kept the audience captivated and quiet.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Lydia Cole.

Next up was Nathan King, accompanied by guitarist friend Joe Faris. Nathan’s set was also short but was full of energy and witty banter. For the last song, a Zed favourite, Nathan invited Lydia back on to stage and joked about how she was a big fan of the song when it came out.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Nathan King (right) with Lydia Cole and Joe Faris.

The main act was Greg Johnson and Boh Runga playing together, each singing some of their own songs with accompaniment from the other. They were supported by guitarists Dave Goodison and Ben King who also provided backing vocals and were the focus for humorous jibes when Greg wasn’t taking the mickey out of himself of Boh. The songs were good, the reworking of Isabelle my favourite.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn