Yee haw!
As if we weren’t spoilt enough in Tamaki Makarau with one of the hottest indie bands in the world right now – Isle of Wight’s ‘Wet Leg’ – playing the tiny Tuning Fork on Sunday night, fresh off their triumphant appearance at Glastonbury, uptown the Powerstation was packed to the rafters for the return of rhinestone cowboy Orville Peck.
Adoring fans decked out in stetsons, western shirts, some even in chaps. Never surely has an urban Auckland venue seen so many cowboy boots, fringes and tassels. It’s unusual and endearing evidence of the level of affection and adulation for the masked man who completely owned the stage this night, with the crowd in the palm of his delicate and graceful hand.
Erny Belle and band had warmed up the punters nicely, but the audible roar that went up as the house lights went down ahead of the main event signalled this crowd was fizzing at the bung for the return of the mysterious musician who has never revealed or publicised his real identity, but wears his heart on his bedazzled sleeve – a much-feted indie-darling/enigmatic cowboy king of country and western.
A man in black tonight, Orville Peck wore one of his trademark Lone Ranger masks with long tassels covering his face – resplendently booted and suited, he cuts quite the dash. Especially mid-set when he dispenses with the jacket to reveal a skintight tanktop over his lean torso, with beautifully toned, tattooed arms, and mesmerising hands which he uses to full dramatic effect, punctuating points in the music.
A ballet dancer in years past, and a performer on London’s West End, this is a man who knows how to move, how to work his body, how to work and charm an audience. Tantalising, lean, muscular. That’s both man and music.
Orville Peck has an innate talent for showmanship other performers would die for, entrancing and amusing the crowd.
Choice between-song banter includes a couple of ‘rose ceremonies’ - a la The Bachelor he said - in which he singled out audience members and passed out long-stemmed roses. One for a fan right up front ‘cos he ‘really liked their vibe’. Others passed out and across the crowd for dudes in pink Stetsons. And another for a lady in the top tier, on the guardrail of the balcony right of stage, because, as he said “I like your dress. I saw you during the first song.”
What a charmer.
No questioning his musical chops – playing guitar, and piano at one stage for ‘Drive Me Crazy’, an ode to truckers. He might own the stage but he doesn’t hog it - ably aided and abetted by a kick-ass band, all also bedecked in Stetsons, and featuring the beautiful Bria Salmena on guitar and harmonies. Literally Orville’s right-hand woman. Especially good when taking on Shania Twain’s part in the epic duet ‘Legends Never Die’.
But mostly it was all about that man and that voice – a deep rich combo of Johnny Cash and Glenn Danzig, Roy Orbison meets John Doe (another one-time punk who’s changed direction, mining more traditional veins of Americana music). Who knows who his muses are. It’s classic, timeless stuff. But in Orville’s hands, also very now, very contemporary. Dare I say, the ghost of Elvis even felt like it was sometimes in the building.
The booming baritone extends to Peck’s speaking voice – but ripping through his narrative songs, he can take it all the way to an on-point falsetto when required. He has range and power and boundless energy, vocally and physically, as he gallops through country-tinged tales of love and loss. Dialling it back for his tender ‘tears-in-yer-beer’ ballads, so vulnerable on some of his songs, especially from the third and latest album ‘Bronco’.
Peck has said this album came largely out of a deep depression during the pandemic that had him questioning his life and career. It shows.
His set included some favourites off his earlier works ‘Pony’ and ‘Show Pony’, which he didn’t get to tour due to Covid disruption. The wait was worth it. Standout tracks included ‘Hexie Mountains’ – his favourite, he said - ‘Daytona Sand’, ‘Turn to Hate’, and ‘The Curse of the Blackened Eye’.
Orville Peck might be an international man of mystery when it comes to his real identity – we know he grew up in South Africa (he told us so – “I’m from the same hemisphere .. spent Christmas in the pool.” ) and that he’s been living for years in Canada.
But it’s no secret at all that he is gay, proudly out, and writes his torch songs, love songs about men – perfectly encapsulated in the brooding and beautiful ‘Dead of Night’ … and newer Bronco track ‘C’mon Baby Cry’.
Do yerself a favour and go watch the official video for ‘C’mon Baby Cry’– it’s a perfect potted 3 minute 37 seconds of the man, his music, his style, his aesthetic, his LGBQT appeal. Though judging by the crowd at the Powerstation this night, straight men and women can’t get enough of him either.
Orville Peck has the tunes, the swagger and style and sex appeal in spades, and perhaps that goes some way to explaining his meteoric rise in popularity.
This outlaw cowboy – bringing the camp to country - really is the real deal, the whole star-spangled package.
Y’all come back now, ya hear …!
Photo: AFP
SETLIST
1. Daytona Sand
2. Turn to Hate
3. The Curse of the Blackened Eye
4. Lafayette
5. C’mon Baby, Cry
6. Winds Change
7. Drive Me, CrazyPlay Video
8. No Glory in the West
9. Outta Time
10. Any Turn
11. All I Can Say
12. Blush
13. Hexie Mountains
14. Legends Never Die
15. Kalahari Down
16. Dead of Night
17. Bronco
Encore:Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)
