Words by Melissa Tan – Pictures by David Payne

Typical pre-weekend crowd banter didn’t do anything to dampen Kimbra’s charm over the Forum on Friday night. Strutting the stage in a flouncy blue number, the NZ singer opened up the night with a bit of class dropping tunes from her upcoming record Vows. Looping pedals and a hysterical scat during the bridge lent a nice twist to Nina Simone’s ‘Plain Gold Ring’, while the disco riffs in a cover of Prince’s ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ ushered punters into a cheesy boogie. Kimbra knows how to flaunt her vocal range without wandering into self indulgent jazz singer territory.

A tight band threw in a varied mix of jazz, soul funk and pop, keeping the overall sound fresh. Shouldn’t go by without mentioning the drummers’ impeccably sculptured square ‘fro. Notable highlights included the Janelle Monae vibes of ‘Break’, and the incredibly uplifting chorus in ‘Cameo Lover’, which could well be the best smothering of pop to hit this town in a long time. After an interesting set, (shoulder popping and impulsive hand gesticulating included) it’s without a doubt that the crowd would’ve been keen to adopt this Kiwi as one of their own.

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