CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FEELERS GALLERY IN FULL - PHOTOS BY ERIK NORDER

By Shane Jones

Artist: The Feelers with special guests Stonehurst

Date / Venue: Saturday July 7th, 2018 - The Foundry, Christchurch

I kindly got asked to write a review for this show and gladly accepted for two reasons, firstly it's two of my favourite Christchurch bands, and secondary its an Anniversary Tour of one of the biggest bands NZ has produced, Ok well thirdly (yes there had to be a third thing as good things always come in threes…) I get my turn to write a review on them. Considering I photographed The Feelers back in March at the Selwyn Sounds show in Lincoln (on the outskirts of Christchurch for those who don’t know were it is), so for me its a huge honour.

Firstly it's Stonehurst these guys are hard workers, they have just recently opened up for Seether at the Issac Theater Royal in CHCH back in May and they were asked if they would like to support The Feelers for the South Island leg of the 25th Anniversary Tour. So who in their right mind would turn that down playing 6 shows in a week finishing up in their home town tonight, not these guys.

Playing to a sold out 1000 people venue in a 45 minute set, 8 songs were heard from their latest album that came out last year called Strange Urge. A lot of the crowd attendance are in there mid forties and may not have heard or seen these guys before, but talking to a few people after the show they were very impressed with them and cant wait to see them play again. I only have two gripes about their set, and I’ve got to say it but it always comes down to a lighting issue for support acts. It just irritates the hell out of me that the lighting should be more on a par with the main act we have come to see, especially when these guys have opened for big acts like Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society, Devilskin, City Of Souls, Halestorm and as I mentioned earlier Seether. I would love to see these guys have decent lighting, and secondly I would’ve liked to hear a couple songs from their first self titled album, but that’s just me and my opinion, great job as always, as I’ve never seen a bad show from them .

After about a 40 min intermission while the stage is set for The Feelers, the lads finally take the stage and bang out classic hit after classic hit that has made them a household name over the past 25 years we have come to love. For the next 2.5hrs or so, we were treated to 21 songs, not 25 (playing on the 25th anniversary theme). Starting with Supersystem it wasn’t long before the voices from the fans were also singing along with them and from time to time James Reid would stop singing and the crowd would take over the chorus to the odd song until, the hit Stand Up where Clint and James got the crowd into a competition, splitting it up a couple of times with men vs woman and then dividing the venue up, right down the middle to another sing off.

After the song Venus, Clint, Andy and Hamish left the stage for an encore break but James unaware of his band mates leaving the stage stayed on and he sang one of his solo songs The Traveler. As I looked around the auditorium throughout the show, it was such a great vibe to the band we have come to see, the fans were all waving hands in the air, plenty of singing as I’ve mentioned earlier, but the smiles is what got me everyone was having such a great time. This was great as The Feelers fans are loyal ones, not because its one of our home city's bands but these guys have decided to do a spatial and have made it a non drinking one. It showed that these guys came to play ball, while refreshing up on Powerade instead of alcohol, which made for such a great time for a special occasion of this milestone they have now conquered, well done fellas.

Hamish and Clint would get the old faithful CANTERBURY rugby chant going every now and then and thanked the crowd very much for sticking around and giving them the support over the years.

Only small hiccups I could fault, was James and Andy had to re-tune their guitars to various songs, seeing they were only playing on the one guitar each for the whole show but that’s neither here or there. The lighting was excellently well lit with strobes and LED type search beams etc which didn’t make it a boring light show. Hamish on drums was like Animal from the Muppets at times and gave his kit a serious workout. Clint worked his bass so hard that he had to wipe the fret board down a couple of times to remove the sweat, Andy raised his hand up and down like being a conductor to the fans, to get them to sing high and low, which also got James helping out as well.

All in all a fantastic spectacle to be apart of, to all the crew behind the scenes, great job you all deserve a pat on the back, and I hope The Feelers continue to keep us bonding with them from time to time with more new songs and tours in the future.

For those in the North Island your turn is coming starting on the Thursday 12th @ the Cossie Club, Upper Hutt working their way north to the last show @ Jacs Bar on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula Sat 11th August so there’s still plenty of time to get out and show your support to one of New Zealand’s most Iconic bands.

Stonehurst Setlist CHCH

Step Outside

Ultimate Shadows

Portal Of Dreams

Gimmie All Your Money

Fall In A Hole

Free Yourself

Strange Urge

Out of Time

The Feelers Setlist CHCH

Supersystem

Space Cadet