Gig Review: Search For Yeti @ Meow, Wellington – 08/05/2025

Review by Daniel OBrien // 14 May 2025

The line up itself can often be as impactful to the vibe of a live show as the individual acts themselves are, where at its best each act lays down tonal or stylistic themes that complement and emphasise the act that follows, steadily building up a sense of energy and creating the overall feeling of a cohesive “show” rather than just another “three bands one stage” scenario.

That said, there is no right way to do it, there is no formula for the perfect line up. it’s just vibes.

And on Thursday the 8th of May at Wellington’s Meow, the vibes were good… really good.

Opening the evening at a very reasonable 8pm sharp was Persimmon, a four-piece classic Kiwiana indie pop band from Palmerston North. Their laid back harmony’s and jangly guitar set the perfect tone as punters steadily began to pass through the door, welcoming them with a warm sound that while melodically rich isn’t too loud or abrasive. There is sometimes a battle to get the first act to go on even though the place is still mostly empty, but that’s the exact job of the slot, so even as people are just arriving there is already a vibe going. Persimmon owned their spot and did exactly that, and by the end of their set had a solid crowd dancing away in a room now filled with energy.

The floor was then handed over Dropper, a four-piece from Wellington that took the vibes laid down by Persimmon and absolutely supercharged them. I was outside when their first song opened with such intensity that heads literally turned, drawing everyone outside in and filling the dance floor for the remainder of their set. While describing their sound as indie-rock or pop-punk wouldn’t be inaccurate, it’s more like these guys took all of the rock music from early to late aughts’ and filtered it through some kind of proprietary muslin cloth filtering out all the cheese whilst retaining all of the stylistic elements that made that decade of music so enigmatic. Their high energy stage performance was punctuated by flawless musicianship and songwriting skills that seems beyond the years of a band still largely in their teens. Honestly, it’s hard to overstate how impressed i was with Dropper and am eagerly awaiting my next chance to see them live.

With the room now practically effervescent Search for Yeti took the stage to perform their latest album Dark So Soon and tastefully brought the high intensity vibe down to sultry simmer with what felt like a groovy psychedelic rock instrumental jam, setting the tone for the dynamic and eclectic mix of styles and intensities that would follow.

Being a three piece act i had wondered how the trio would be able to translate their sonically full, instrument laden record into their live show, something they pulled off with ease and without the need to rely on a series of song length backing tracks. The secret sauce it turns out lay in bass player Vince Waide’s utilisation of a Moog pedal synthesizer (basically the floor pedals for an organ) giving him the ability to switch between bass and an effects laden acoustic-electric guitar whilst not losing any of the bottom end and pulling off some pretty impressive basslines just with his feet. Drummer Sean Barker aids in filling out the tracks with a sample unit letting him drop in where necessary but not spoiling the ‘Live’ feel with mechanistic pre-recorded backing tracks. Singer and guitarist Luke Marlow has the stage presence of a well-travelled performer, just as comfortable baring his creative soul to a captive gently swaying crowd as he is belting out a rock banger coaxing the audience into a frenzy

The dynamic established by the first two acts is carried through by Search for Yeti’s eclectic ensemble of songs that range from soft and ethereal ballads like A Cold Wind to up-beat indie-rock bangers with tracks like Fragment and End of Days providing the necessary punch in between the more reflective and minimalist tracks on Dark So Soon.

Search for Yeti continues its nationwide tour of Dark So Soon with upcoming dates in Nelson and Christchurch, and should you be able i would highly recommend catching these guys live and having a listen to what is a skillfully crafted and thoughtfully put together record.

Though each band Persimmon, Dropper and Search for Yeti all have a very different core sound, they complemented each other in a way that gave the show a cohesive feel and captured the audience to the extent that the crowd was kept engaged and dancing from first band to last. Any one of these acts would be a joy to see live but together they put on the rare kind of show that feels more like one gig than three bands.