Gig Review: Supergroove @ Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North – 25/04/2025

Touring the country on their ‘Phenomenon Tour’, Supergroove brought the party, along with some very special guests, to Te-Matau-a-Maui’s Black Barn Amphitheatre. And what a party it was!!

With King Kapisi in the house, getting the crowd warmed up and running a dance-off, the atmosphere was amping up to a high point on a balmy autumn evening. Ramping up a notch when Troy Kingi took to the stage but dialing back a little for his acknowledgement of the fact that this was taking place on Anzac Day, Lest We Forget. A reminder of the historical significance of the day, and a brief pause in the party spirit. But which was quickly revived with his breaking in to Aztechknowledgey, the full band funkin’ it up even further with Through My Venetians, setting up an atmosphere ready to explode for the headliners.

And explode it did, the band taking no prisoners as they kicked off loud, straight in to Here Comes The Supergroove. Full-on, and a reminder of just how rowdy they can get! Your White Shirt maintained the pace, while the next track was an acknowledgement, many more of which were to come, that Che Fu has a significant solo career also, in the form of Screams from Da Old Plantation with King Kapisi back on stage for extra vocals.

But there’s some songs that Supergroove are really known for, without which no show would be complete, and the first of these to make an appearance was You Gotta Know, and when those familiar chords were heard, the place erupted-transported back to a time before many there were born. Such is the wide appeal of this act.

An acknowledgement of the band’s prehistory, in the form of a three-piece rendition of Mannish Boy, provided a glimpse of their blues-based past, having been formed from the ruins of The Low Down Dirty Blues Band. This saw vocalist Karl Solvë Steven taking up the harmonica for his contribution, which he hung on to for the next song, Sister Sister. This song brought the full band back to the stage, along with Troy and Rubi Du, bringing her toasting skills to the fore. Drummer Ian Jones, whose mum’s birthday it was, had a song dedicated to her, hoping she likes the loud stuff, because it was Don’t Look Down – not one of the more reflective numbers, shall we say? And then another dose of Che’s solo output, with Misty Frequencies leading in to the intermission.

Post-intermission, it was Rubi’s time for the spotlight, with her brace of Back Up and Bigger Tingz, leading in to Che’s Machine Talk. Shortly after saw Troy Kingi return, for his All Your Ships have Sailed. Soul Time saw Karl giving dance lessons, in time for Che’s Chains, performed with assistance from King Kapisi, and then it was time to crank up the noise again, for You Freak Me. Demonstration, again, of the sheer versatility of this outfit!

As mentioned above, there are some songs that are absolute canon, perhaps none more so than Can’t Get Enough, the performance of which absolutely took things to a whole new level! But it also signalled that the end wasn’t far away, the show having been going for nearly 3 hours at this point, and as such, just a few songs later came the main set closer, Sitting Inside My Head.

But there was no way that was going to be allowed to be all we saw, a 3 song encore being duly demanded and delivered. This consisted of perhaps Che’s best-known song, Fade Away, followed by Next Time, before finishing with none other than Scorpio Girls. The finale saw all the artists taking the stage, for a full-on rendition of this barnstorming motherfunker of a song, really the only one that could fill this spot! And then it was all over, the 2-night residency completed, showing that this is a band that can still bring the noise, and will do so at the slightest opportunity.
Still rocking it, after all these years, and long may it continue!

Photo Credit: Derek Rossiter Photography
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