Seether – Logan Campbell Centre

 

South African stadium rock band Seether has all the ingredients for greatness. They’ve got the outstanding vocal chops of singer Shaun Morgan, stage presence and energy to spare, and hard-rocking songs that nod to classic bands from The Foo Fighters to Nirvana to Metallica.

From the first song of their Auckland show, Seether showed off their ability to craft a dynamic track. The ominous murmur of guitar bubbled like a river of lava on No Jesus Christ, before erupting in an explosion of drums so powerful that it almost vibrated everyone’s clothes off. The addition of an ear-worm chorus had the Logan Campbell Centre seething with Seether fans.

Seether like to mix things up. Their set traversed an incredibly wide range of genres, touching on everything from grunge to country. The band took us from the anthemic rock of Rise Above This to the punk-pop splendour of Same Damn Life within minutes. This versatility allowed Shaun to show off his wide vocal range. He unleashed everything from whisky-soaked whispers and full-throttle screaming on Gasoline – and revealed an incredible upper register on Same Damn Life. Unfortunately we weren’t treated to any more of his high notes throughout the set.

Driven Under finished with an epic extended ending before the band revealed a more sensitive side on the ballad Broken. My Disaster opened with a drum solo worthy of the movie Whiplash, with drummer John Humphrey shaking his mop of blonde hair under the coloured lights and ultimately abandoning his sticks and playing with his hands.

Song number eleven, the aptly-named Country Song, was thoroughly enjoyable, and clearly catnip for Seether fans. It finished to deafening applause – and if the set had also finished there, it would have been a fantastic evening. But there were six more songs before the band finally hung up their guitars.

By song number fifteen the trickle of people leaving the venue had increased to a steady flow. But even the venue staff opening the back doors onto the cold night Swind didn’t dissuade the band from playing a noodling cover of appalling Tenacious D song Fuck her Gently, before rattling everyone’s ear drums with some machine gun drumming on Remedy.

Hardcore Seether enthusiasts definitely got value for money – but more casual fans may have found the talented four-piece to be somehow less than the sum of their parts.

Thunderous Kiwi pop metal band Ekko Park was an able support act. Front man Joe Walsh had an endearing ‘Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean’ vibe, and the songs were rock-solid. The backing vocals were a real high-light, and it would be good to hear more of them next time.

– Kathryn van Beek

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Tim Armstrong:

 

Seether Set list:

1. No Jesus Christ
2. Gasoline
3. Needles
4. Rise Above This
5. Same Damn Life
6. Driven under
7. Fine again
8. Broken
9. My Disaster
10. Words as weapons
11. Country song
12. The gift
13. Tonight
14. Nobody praying for me
15. Fake It
16. Fuck her gently
17. Remedy