By Megan Moss

Artist: David Duchovny

Date / Venue: Tuesday February 20th, 2018: The Powerstation, Auckland

When most hear the name David Duchovny, they will generally think of his many notable onscreen characters or possibly his (many) achievements in other areas of performance and creative arts first.

To most David is not well known (in New Zealand anyway) as a musician. As with any cross-over artists in their first couple of years, it was always going to be a show for his fans for whatever reason they are - which is a positive to be noted and as credible as the next reason. To me, if you want to (and have the drive, the passion and resources), why the hell not? His prior ‘fame’ has undoubtedly helped him cross-over into music and making world touring and recording two albums possible.

For the sake of those who are new to David as a musician (I speculate), David’s drive behind his music to be his passion project. His songs seem drawn from the heart, from life, love, loss, regret and dare I say it maturity and the wisdom that comes with it. David’s songs are simplistic yet lyrically clever if you take the time to listen. Melodic soft rock, of a down tempo Tom Petty-esque vein. He has a great backing band (called Weather). His vocal abilities however have been criticised quite a bit. The songs themselves will always be re-interpreted of course, and I suspect that he really doesn’t care what any critic says anyway. He seems to be just a guy with music in his heart… to me, that sits just fine and is rather admirable. A personality I would think to be inclined towards music, to which end has now led him here to New Zealand for his two-dates of his tour.

Last night’s show was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. Without a doubt he is a hugely accomplished artist, intellectually and in performance, someone with substance in this world and someone I admire quite a bit (and so did the many ladies in the crowd last night it seemed, with catcalls which led David to joke that he “suddenly felt unsafe…” but he took it in his stride with good humour).

David and his fabulous 5-piece band hit the stage shortly after 9pm. I settled in with a smile on my dial and a positive open mind to listen, dance a little to some cruisy rock music which has been referred to by some music critics as ‘Dad Rock’ and take it for what it was.

Onstage what I really loved was his connection with the band and audience, a key ingredient to a great show. The band, well they all seem to be really good friends, having fun and doing what they love together. The sound was great, definitely a professional quality show and the lighting was also beautiful at a good venue I think for him, if not a tad over-sized. It was a pleasing intimate gig to get up and close.

David at first looked a little uneasy or nervous or tired (or all of those) which melted quickly. He interacted with the audience for the entirety of the show, grasping fans hands (and some phones on the odd occasion from the audience) giving the love back, making jokes, telling small anecdotes, complimenting that as an audience we were “Tiny but Mighty”.

Without a doubt, David is no Freddy Mercury, in regard to his vocals, neither is Bob Dylan who in time, work, experience and sticking to his guns won the hearts and souls of millions and influenced the greats. From a live perspective, all the ingredients are most definitely there for continued success.

As a whole the music came across more than aurally pleasing, the melodies good and some nice guitar solos in there for the more up-beat songs, sometimes I felt like I wanted the tempo to lift just a little bit more, but that’s probably my personal taste, and this is an opinion piece after all.

Onstage he’s a talented frontman to be watched and I personally look forward to seeing where he takes this. I also particularly loved his choices of the two covers songs the band performed; The Weight (originally recorded by ‘The Band’) a song I absolutely adore on so many levels - so he had me right there. Later in the encore band mate (keyboard player and producer Colin Lee) sang Don’t Dream Its Over as David admitted he couldn’t sustain the octaves required in which time he sat down on the drum riser and gave Colin his free range and drank orange juice.

David to you I say, along with so many others, I had a great time last night. Thank-you to you and your band, hopefully we’ll see you in New Zealand again soon… if only to amuse yourself with jokes about our straight down backwards flushing toilets and speculate about left-handed girls.

Setlist

Every Third Thought

3000

Maybe I Can’t

Stranger In The Sacred Heart

The Things

The Weight

When The Whistle Blows

Roman Coin

Passenger

Mo’

Let It Rain