16/5/98

by Michael Travis

Well I was fortunate enough to catch Jan Hellriegel’s performance at the Auckland Street Party today. Unfortunately though, the time schedule was a bit muddled over the day, and when I arrived nice and early, it was to the sound of a piano and, wouldn’t you know, the lyrics to Westie Gals. Of course, my friend and I hurried over to the stage to see Jan up there with her keyboard playing a particulary ballady version of this well know anthem.

What followed was one of the better live performances I have had the pleasure to watch. She was still without her band, which I understand makes her somewhat nervous, but what strikes me is her amazing ability to adapt. As with the other performances I have seen, Jan made the material sound unique, and everytime it’s different.

Today we were treated with a very harmonious version of Geraldine sung to a slower bpm, with some incredible piano work. If you’ve ever been curious as to how well Jan Hellriegel can play, then let me assure you that it is a sight to behold.

Geraldine was sumptiously rewritten as a keyboard piece, and Jan’s fingers danced over the keys as she presented a new, more tuneful rendition of the song. She is nothing if not multitalented - how she kept up that coordination is beyond me.

She also managed to play several new songs without any sheet music, including one she "wrote yesterday" about her experiences in Australia (called Two By Two). This alone shows how far she has come since I saw her forget the chords to one of her songs (at the Masonic Tavern) - now she can spin along to brand new, complex material without so much as a hitch.

During the new material set, Jan brought out her live ‘band’ to accompany her on stage. Since Wayne Bell left to tour overseas, Jan has been using pre-recorded DAT as backup on stage, and it was nice to hear her perform live with some heavy noise behind her (I never saw her perform when she toured with the band).

And the good news everybody? The new songs are incredible.

They’re nice and speedy, and she’s as vocally adventurous as always. A good sign - if album number three is anything like this then we’re in for a treat. Let me digress a moment to hypothesise about the new album.

Adaptable as she is, Jan went from the classic Kiwi rock sound of the anthemic It’s My Sin to the very alternative-cred Tremble, which was also lauded by the media for the artistic sensibilities of its very up-close-and-personal tracks like Thinking. If I would predict anything now, it would be an album much to Jan like Version 2.0 is to Garbage, or Homogenic to Bjork. Yes, I’m predicting some serious computer work. Not an electronica album, but at the very least the drums will be heading for a synthesised sound.

Take Sentimental Fool for example, with its very dub-style drums. The DAT drums strike me as very similar and I think Wayne is looking for a modern sound with the other songs. If the concert was anything to go by, there should be some nice modern synth-pop, dub, technoesque drums, while I think Jan is heading for more acoustic territory herself. It will be interesting to see if she plays these new songs at her acoustic night, "Torched".

If she does we can expect, I think, a blend of old style guitar and modern drum. But we’ll see, I could be wrong. Hellriegel is always a step ahead.

Returning to the concert, we see the clouds begin to drizzle. After a fairly pleasant day it was sad to see the weather take a bad turn during Jan’s set. Still, people were interested and more receptive than I’ve seen in the past - so much so that there were a number of photos being taken (there were quite a few flashes).

She continued to play more original music, I think Misadventure and possibly Love Me but my memory is fuzzy.

I also caught Jan backstage, albeit briefly. I felt bad for holding her up as the wind was cold, it was drizzling, and it was obvious that she wanted to join her friends in the warm, sheltered bar (sorry Jan). But nonetheless, I wanted to laud her new material, and give her a bit of a needling about the new album.

Jan was with her manager Louise, and was as pleasant and as cordial as always. She’s still unsignedl, and the new album seems only to be waiting on funding. Apparently the band are quite keen to begin work on it too. Unfortunately that was about all I got as I felt awkward keeping her in the cold, and I only hope I didn’t antagonise her too much. So, there you go. Not as professional a report as the New Zealand Herald might write, but certainly more thorough. See you all at the Comedy Bar, 31st to the 1st!