Howe Gelb w/ Teacups

Saturday, October 25, 2008

4:20, Auckland

In the space of an hour, my mind went from thinking Howe Gelb sounded like a street busker to realising he was a master of the arts. Starting on keyboard, Gelb’s fingers lept from side to side, twinkling across the low notes and pounding a deafening pitch that at times sounded messy and disorganised. Unfortunately throughout the quieter parts of the set the buzz from the PA was a huge distraction; irritating and annoying, it was difficult to concentrate on Gelb’s shy performance. Proudly hiding underneath his ‘Arizona Feeds’ cap, Gelb switched to guitar. Pealing off a number of country-blues numbers, his live guitar skills, loud enough to be heard above the buzz, had the audience in constant applause. When Gelb finally addressed the audience with the question, “do you want a guitar song or a piano song?”, the guitar won unanimously. Promoter Jim Rush joined Gelb on stage for a final duet, a deserving touch thanking Jim for running another well organised show.

More Howe Gelb and Teacups live photos

Posted by Nick Fulton under New Zealand, U.S.A