Say what? Yes, this is the title of the show. Sven Olsen’s Brutal Canadian Love Saga is the name of the band, and they play a selection of songs, mostly about life in Wellington and New Zealand. They have a string section, and a few weeks ago Nicola was recruited to join it with her viola. For the past few weeks she’s been rehearsing, and now, finally, she got to play live in two gigs on Saturday and Sunday night, as part of the Wellington Fringe Festival. I went along for the second of these gigs.
Nicola set out early as she had to do a sound check before the show, so I met her later and we went for a quick Ruby beforehand. The venue was Newtown Community Centre, and Newtown, being at the more bohemian end of town, has a wide selection of curry restaurants to choose from. We selected Planet Spice, largely on the basis that it was close to the Community Centre. After dining on butter chicken and biryani, we headed back and I positioned myself in an ideal spot to take pictures and record one of the songs – Nicola had given me a heads-up that Adam’s Terrace would be a good candidate for this.
The gig started, and they played through a long set of songs, with some chat in between explaining the provenance and meaning of each song, as well as introducing the band, and general badinage. The band total 20 people – the main band on the stage, including vocalists, guitar, drums, and double bass; a flautist, a mandolinier, and the strings. The musical styles of the songs vary, but all have a quasi-country tone and feel to them. They also make videos which are projected onto the backdrop as they play. I took some pictures and recorded on my phone.
As Helmuth Von Moltke once said, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. What I hadn’t bargained for was the 1,000KW LED that Nicola uses to be able to read her music, clipped to the music stand. Yes, behind that blinding light is Nicola.
Fortunately, they all stood up at the end to take a bow.
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