Gig Review: Welcome to the Gig: Volume 1, 26/8/2022
The first Welcome to the Gig: Volume 1 showcase was held at Cassette Nine on the 26th August 2022. Amazing highlight reel by the awesome Jack Mensah Multimedia!
What a whirlwind of a time! Welcome to the Gig had its very own showcase of talent in Auckland on Friday, 26th August and the crew behind it and myself were all blown away by the outcome of the first volume. Now, we are frothing to do it all over again.
It started off as a mild winter evening with a few people trickling through the doors, to an outstanding affair with everyone boogying all night long to the three amazing acts up on the stage at Cassette Nine in Auckland.
It wouldn’t be a Welcome to the Gig event without a little review on the evening, so if you were unable to attend, read on to find out all of the fun that you missed and some highlights along the way!
Isla with her partner in crime, Isaac, were the first to take us off to space with their magical moments on stage at Welcome to the Gig: Volume 1! Photo credit: Jack Mensah Multimedia
First up to hit the stage was Isla with her partner in crime, Isaac, who started the evening off with the catchiest croons that drew in some excited audience members.
Isla’s highly relatable stories along with Isaac’s jokes did not go unappreciated, with people beaming, laughing and having a genuinely fun time to start the party that was about to burst out onto the stage of Cassette Nine.
Isla’s performance was an eclectic mass of greatness, gathering all different ways of showcasing her music within the folk-pop-rock genres that she plays with.
A truly outstanding acoustic performance from these two! Photo credit: Jack Mensah Multimedia
I was deeply enthralled with Kids Like Me - a catchy, eurythmic song that Isla and Isaac really pull out of the bag. Isla’s perfect acoustic guitar strums and soft-flowing vocals flew throughout the venue to create some other worldly magic that we didn’t know we needed, while Isaac rotated between the cajon, keys and backing vocals, a perfectly crafted blend of enjoyment, best served with an ice cold beverage on a Friday evening.
Isla is a musician that is exceptionally easy to listen to and this comes down to her stage presence, as well as the way she presents herself as a person. You would not have known that her and Isaac had not done a gig in a year up until this showcase. Absolutely brilliant.
Haze Lane putting on an absolute vibe for us at the first Welcome to the Gig showcase. PC: Jack Mensah Multimedia
Is that thunder? Oh, no, sorry. My bad. It’s everybody clapping and tapping their feet for Haze Lane (formerly Mind Over Matter) who came rip-roaring onto the stage and gave everyone another burst of life after a rather hazy week of working or studying.
All the feelings were natural in that room with the guys giving their passions out to everyone who was willing to listen and everyone in the joint certainly had their ears turned up to 100.
Blown away by these four! PC: Jack Mensah Multimedia
Haze Lane, while still fairly young, have this sense of epic maturity about them, bringing in this charming appeal through the depths of their tunes, allowing them to cycle through and play around with their sound a little. Haze Lane set off this major draft of calm over me during their set and to be able to embody that as a band, that is quite a beneficial thing that I can genuinely appreciate.
A couple of highlights from their set would have to be when they covered Mako Road’s tune, The Sun Comes Up, and when they were performing their own tune, My World, there were a few people who knew the words and they were absolutely delighted by this fact, making a point to mention it to the crowd. I would 10/10 recommend seeing Haze Lane live when you can - the desirability to see them again is and forever will be, off the charts.
Big Tasty sent us off into the ever-cooling night. PC: Jack Mensah Multimedia
Big Tasty were our third and final musical act of the evening and it is hard to even decide where to begin reviewing their set because there were just so many magnificent moments to take in.
First of all, the diversity that Big Tasty offer in terms of their musicality and the way they are so creatively empowering really makes a big impact on the music industry.
Look at them go! PC: Jack Mensah Multimedia
Big Tasty are quite wondrous prodigies who bought a whole new meaning to funky town and they weren’t going to leave until they blew the minds of the crowd and which, by no surprise, they did beyond that.
Big Tasty are nothing like you will have seen before - they bring about an extremely unique way of performing with the multi-instrumentalists (trumpet, keys, drums, bass, guitar, saxophone…) and strength of the powerhouse vocals that could take down anything, just like a tornado. The whole mood of Cassette Nine was highly elevated the entire time that Big Tasty were on that platform. Their successfully enjoyable set was thoroughly loved, with a member of the audience even asking me to find them on Spotify so he didn’t forget who they were.
Having not long released their single, Diamond Eyed, this was the perfect opportunity for Big Tasty to garner in some more fans in which they achieved without fail.
Skipping a beat on Big Tasty would be morally wrong - especially when they send out so many vibrant vibes across the air. I anticipate that this is only the beginning of Big Tasty and what they have in store for us.
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I would like to end this review by saying a massive thank you to all involved in Welcome to the Gig: Volume 1. It was one of the most amazing gigs I’ve personally been to (not being biased, either!). The energy was just heated up the entire way through the night, everyone had the biggest blast of their lives and the performers… Nobody could have asked for better talent to take the stage. I hold all of them in a high regard.
If you would like to be involved/come along to possible future Welcome to the Gig showcases, hit those follow buttons on the social media pages at the top of the website to keep up to date.
Make sure to follow all of the talented humans that performed at the first showcase, too, their links are below!
Isla (and Isaac):
Spotify
Isla’s Instagram
Isaac’s Instagram
Isla’s Facebook
Mini Interview with Isla - WTTG
Haze Lane:
Big Tasty: