By REBECCA BARRY
Perhaps the rugby can take some credit, but there were a lot of smiling, happy people at the Regent Theatre on Saturday night. The feelers and Op Shop were celebrating, too, capping off their 20-gig nationwide tour with an uplifting blast of stadium-sized pop-rock.
After a confident start by
Stoods, an up-coming band with some interesting melodic ideas, and a drawn-out guest spot from the roadies doing sound checks, the anticipation was rewarded when Christchurch-bred five-piece Op Shop took to the stage.
Magnetic frontman Jason Kerrison has a way with his people, whether it is encouraging a bit of pampering for a group photo or getting an obligatory session of arm-waving started.
When he wasn't having a laugh, he was passionately ringing out the high notes over the throttle of the guitars as the band powered through songs from new album, You Are Here.
It's a tough call living up to comparisons with Coldplay and U2, particularly as guitarist Tim Skeddon looks so much like the Edge in his black beanie, but they pulled it off with some rousing dynamics, from the ball-breaking riffery of Nexus, to the soaring vocals of Nothing Can Wait and the stripped down balladry of No Ordinary Thing.
At one stage, Blindspott singer Damian Alexander surprised the crowd when he joined them for some metal-fuelled shrieking.
That could have been levelled at the frustrating wait between performances as the roadies did their thing for the next half-hour and the bar queues lengthened.
Then it was on to headliners and reformed hotel wreckers the feelers, who managed a sweaty, tight and professional performance. They still possess a certain devil-may-care swagger but it still didn't quite feel like the "****ing carnage" Reid promised.
To be fair, it was those chunkier rock moments that showed off their musicianship, particularly when those thrilling riffs took over.
And with three albums under their belt they have quite a repertoire of hits, a point hammered home by the throng of pogo-ing fans singing along to every word.
Highlights included earlier songs Spaceboy and Venus and pretty new song Fishing for Lisa. Next time it could be the Supertop.
