16/08/2023
The final TB Top 5 Live Moments 🪩🎷💃
For those in the music game, you’ll know this legend. For those who aren’t, your ears will thank him. Simon Blackwell has been one of the many sound wizards at TB. He’s an icon in the scene and here’s what the boss has to say about the TB stage 📀🔮
1 | H4LF CĀST | TB2
Those who know .te.huki will know that he’s an incredible showman, whether he’s fronting a ten-piece version of Casual Healing or alone onstage with an acoustic guitar. But there was something very magical that happened whenever those six musicians were onstage together. By the time H4LF CĀST took the stage at TB2, it had been raining all day. Everything was soaked, the ground, the crowd, the stage, everything. They were approaching the end of their set when the rain shorted out one of the lights and cut the power to everything except the backline. Nikau tried his mic, then another, and when neither of them worked he leaned out over the front row of the crowd and yelled “I don’t need no f**kin’ microphone!” He finished the song by screaming the lyrics into the open air and throwing himself around the stage like a man possessed while the band played on. They actually raised the energy to a level I’ve never seen before, even without the help of the PA. The crowd lost it. Probably the wildest thing I’ve ever seen onstage.
2 | Same Name Confusion | TB2
I’d mixed Same Name Confusion a few times at local shows and had never been impressed; I thought they were sloppy and I just didn’t get it. Then came TB2. It was like a hurricane hit the stage. There were props, set pieces, synchronised dance moves; the band used every inch of the stage while Luke flawlessly channeled David Byrne. Later, I asked Alvin what had changed. He told me they’d collectively decided to stop drinking before playing shows and to take the band seriously. It worked. That performance was electrifying! I wish the band still existed.
3= | The TB5 Trifecta
It’s impossible to separate these three so I’m just gonna list them alphabetically.
3= | Mara TK | TB5
I got into Electric Wire Hustle right around the time I started mixing shows 12 years ago and I’ve been obsessed with Mara’s music ever since. He and the band played most of the Bad Meditation album and I got to mix the set. It was a glorious dream come true.
3= | Mildlife | TB5
I’ve been following these guys for about 5 years now and I love their groovy, vocoder-heavy Krautrock/Psyche/Fusion style. In the lead-up to TB5, I’d had their Live at South Channel Island concert film playing in my living room almost every evening since its release last year. I was so hyped to see them live and they killed that performance in every way. The rhythm section were deep in the pocket, the guitars and synths danced circles around each other, and their sound engineer executed a flawless mix. It was sublime.
3= | Trinity Roots | TB5
I’ve been listening to Trinity Roots for a really long time - almost 20 years! I don’t know how many times I’ve seen them live but it’s a lot. This one felt special. It was their first show with their new sound engineer and she did this beautiful, lush mix like I’d never heard before. Awash with so much reverb it shouldn’t work but it really, really did. The performance looked and sounded effortless. It was Heaven
