WHO: Lizzie Marvelly
WHAT: The 10 Years Tour
WHERE: Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre
WHEN: Friday night
Twice in the days preceding Lizzie Marvelly's return home for her The 10 Years Tour on Friday night she was huffily dismissed to this reviewer as a 'cruise boat singer'.
To that there's only one reply: All aboard a luxury liner where entertainment's stamped with the first class guarantee.
In the decade since the late Sir Howard Morrison launched her, not on the ocean wave but the national stage, Lizzie's matured into one classy singing package. After her initial flirtation with a classical career, she's found her mitre and what an impressive grab-bag of genres it is.
She makes no secret of the influence Canadian musician Joni Mitchell's had on her song writing. Heck, there are even "close your eyes" moments as she delivers her original works where the listener would swear it was Mitchell at the keyboard or before the mic.
That's not to say Lizzie's slavishly followed Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi to Woodstock, but her conscience-rousing messages are today's equivalent of Mitchell's activism lyrics of the flower power era.
Taking her audience on what she called a "meandering memory lane journey", she delivers numbers as diverse as Stranger In Paradise with a dash of Bossa Nova to musical theatre biggies.
Her Porgy and Bess (Showboat) and Memories from Cats would hold their own on Broadway or in the West End.
Jazz and Blues from Lizzie's larynx are the real deal.
Kiwi contributions, Dave Dobbyn's Welcome Home and the Crowded House classic Don't Dream It's Over, aren't mere cover versions, Lizzie's put an original spin on them; that's brave.
But, perhaps predictably on home turf, it was her salute to her Maori heritage and culture that won the biggest response.
If E Hine and Whakaaria Mai were good, her rousing Tarakihi was outstanding. Kapa haka groups will be queuing for lessons in the facial expressions that accompanied it.
The backing combo of Dr Stephen Small, piano, Jo Shum, bass and bass guitar, Jasper de Roos at the drums and Sam Taylor playing acoustic guitar did Lizzie, themselves and the audience proud.
She's come a long, impressive way in 10 years has our Lizzie. Who dares speculate where she'll be in another 10?
- Jill Nicholas