On Saturday I saw one of the coolest, most original concerts I have ever seen. It was orchestrated by the great Ricki Gooch (ex drummer from Trinity Roots) who under the guise of Eru Dangerspiel pulled together some of New Zealand’s finest musicians to perform arrangements from his album `Great News for the Modern Man’ at Auckland’s Town Hall.

This mesmeric 16-piece group was dressed in a mix of sailor’s uniforms, 80’s trackies and safari suits and included the likes of the Fat Freddy’s horn section, Laughton Kora, Anna Coddington, Mara TK and various members of Auckland’s Opensouls/Tornadoes/Submariner collective. As an extraordinary drummer in his own right, Gooch was not on the drum kit until late in the gig, instead he was up front in his safari suit literally orchestrating the band. Behind him was what looked to be a blindfolded choir (to help them focus on the music perhaps?) and two massive screens with what can only be described as twisted, dreamlike eye candy featuring crazy morphing monkey creatures that cut between live feeds of the band.

The old surrounds of the Town Hall was a great environment for this unique aural and visual extravaganza, and the crowd really realised as the gig went on that something special was taking place.  Hopefully the video gives a small taste of what you missed…