Gig Review: Vanessa Tottle @ Dead Witch, Auckland – 21/02/2025
I’m moments away from reaching my destination for the night: the iconic Ding Dong Lounge. It’s my first time making a visit to this mysterious “scene kids” venue, and as I approach it, I can’t help but notice how bustling Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is for a Friday night. The sound of foreign languages, European ones if I were to make a prediction, fills my ears as I walk down the steepness of Wyndham Street. I start to think to myself “Maybe there’s a ferry that’s just arrived down by the Viaduct?” I’m not sure, but it’s pleasant to see tourists fill the city which everyone seems to be fleeing due to a lack of job opportunities.
Once I reach Ding Dong, I am greeted by the warmth of the staff and instantly feel at ease in a venue I’ve never been in before. “I feel so underdressed!” I express to the staff and my friends as I notice the many creative outfits surrounding me. “You look fine!” the charismatic door ticketing staff member assured me. We head down the stairs and get a feel of the place by grabbing a drink at the bar and getting to know the bartenders. Time flies and we are heading upstairs to Dead Witch in the nick of time to see the opening act for the night: Hyde93x, aka Tanya Dickey, a multifaceted DJ, who definitely got the crowd hyped, rebelliously wearing a t-shirt with “Cunty” painted across it whilst belting out the Madagascar movie soundtrack I Like To Move It, which my friend seemed immersed in, making us wait for the track to finish in order for us to visit the bar back downstairs. After Hyde93x finished transcending us on an electro-pop DJ set journey, we were blessed with MxDicey, aka Marissa Holder, a half-Trinidadian half-Anglo-Indian singer-songwriter, who shot a burst of energy through the crowd, with their empowering dance moves radiating onto us.
Suddenly, an alluring deep red light fills the stage, and the one and only Vanessa Tottle struts on. Tottle is an Aotearoa New Zealand-born and raised singer, songwriter and music producer. She is also the host of the New Zealand Trip-Hop Show and Radio Trip-Hop Brazil, where she interviews other trip-hop artists around the globe. Dressed in a stunning long black frilled skirt, she addresses the crowd before beginning to perform Phoenix Rising, the eighth track from her freshly released debut album, Take Control. It’s a song she once thought she would never be able to perform live, with it “bringing emotion and trauma to the fore”, Tottle has written in an Instagram post.
After Tottle finished singing the empowering Phoenix Rising, she subtly says, “I released an album today!” and then presents us with nine other tracks from the Take Control album. They were a pleasant combination of slow and fast-paced songs, with some emitting a moody and dark energy across the crowd, and others uplifting us and making everyone dance. Before performing I’ll Let You Go, the third song of the night, she explains to the crowd that it’s a song about “toxic friends.” After sharing a personal anecdote regarding how she used to struggle with performing live, so she tattooed on her wrist some lyrics she often forgot, Tottle then performed Good Till It’s Not and When Stars Align, which is a song written and inspired by the death of a cousin, and the love between that cousin and their sibling, Tottle has explained in another Instagram post.
After finishing giving us a tease of her new album Take Control, Tottle performed a few stand-alone singles: Loved Me Right, Unapologetic, Only Miss You, Sketchy and closed the night with Radiance — an instrumental track, which I could tell she thoroughly enjoyed performing, looking like she was having a blast whilst dancing on the stage. Radiance had a delightful piano melody, and also emitted electro waves through the room, and drove the audience into another dimension.
Next on the stage was the impressive award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and stage DJ, Huia. Through the power of her music, she shed light on New Zealand’s Te Reo name, Aotearoa. She danced and sang “When I go away people ask me where am I from, and I say, Aotearoa, and they say where’s that?” Then closing the night was Scarlett Lashes, Tottle’s former classmate who helped teach her how to produce music.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the gig. The mixture of different genres conveyed by the artists was a magnificent balance, and Tottle’s sassy but humble energy throughout her songs was great to be around. We head back downstairs, which has significantly filled up with people since we were last down there, grab a drink and perch up in a booth, before getting into conversation with a group of British lads, then heading home.
I caught up with Tottle before the show to dive into what her new debut album Take Control is all about and how she ended up entering the world of music – read the interview here.
Photo Credit: Nikita Weir / Antonia Pearl Photography
Vanessa Tottle Photo Gallery
Scarlett Lashes Photo Gallery
Hyde93x Photo Gallery
MxDicey Photo Gallery
Huia Photo Gallery
