Check out our photos from this fantastic show here!
NZ math rockers Jakob generate a Hokusai wave of sound that ebbs and flows like a living entity. It crashes and cascades repeatedly over the crowd, and during those moments while it froths and drifts before reforming, the crowd voices heady approval.
Fellow Kiwis Kora effortlessly fuse dub, reggae and rock, laying down grooves so chill they could drive back global warming. Delicously phat beats, coupled with the high-energy antics of vocalist Laughton Kora – part performance art, part Maori war dance – win hearts and minds with ease. Parachute these dudes into Afghanistan now – peace and happy moshing would surely be inevitable.
The final entree to prog rockers Cog is John Farnham’s You’re The Voice over the PA. An earnest yet daggy way to implore fans to make a difference? Guidance is required, because the biggest difference most make tonight is mindlessly screaming the chorus.
Stereotypically, prog means indulgence. There’s a touch of it in Cog’s selections from Sharing Space this evening. Sure Flynn Gower’s clifftop wail is penetrating as ever, the undulating slabs of guitar attractively distorted and the accompanying lightshow dazzling with its strobes, lasers and blinding halogens, but Town Of Lincoln, inexplicably, lacks punch live, and the themes of The Movies Over fail to fully engage after a bright start.
Still, from the outset, the enthusiastically moshing crowd is stoked. So is the band – it’s the first time they’ve ever filled the Tivoli to capacity. And, in between the fat it’s super stuff. The slow-burn atmospherics of No Other Way. The potent anti-government lyricism and stellar brilliance of Are You Interested? and Swamp.
One fan apparently takes his enjoyment too far and is roughly hauled from the mosh by security during Bird Of A Feather. There’s a moment of tension, and a visibly concerned Gower breaks vocals to entreat both crowd and security that Cog gigs are no place for violence.
Although the set is dominated by Sharing Space, there’s also room for older tracks – Resonate, Real Life and The Spine packing particular punch with the fans. The closing bracket of What If? and My Enemy is taut, with the trio teasing the crowd with the opening notes of Bondi before launching into the former. Gower hauls out an acoustic guitar for the final song, and the band weaves through an ethereal rendition of Bitter Pills to conclude in a ballsy no-fanfare, no-encore exit.
