Atomic: Hailing the Pioneering Women of Rock delivered a juke box masterclass of iconic songs from among New Zealand’s finest female musical artists.
The Tight Five singers were front of stage.
Julia Deans (Fur Patrol) curated the set list mostly, I think. Dianne Swann (The Bads) and Boh Runga (Stella) make up the senior prefect’s trio. Jazmine Mary (Scary Mary) and Gussie Larkin (Mermaidens) are their younger siblings. They all played guitar parts throughout.
The sterling back row of the band were Rebel Reid (Valkyrie) guitar, Steph Brown (Lips) keyboards, Karen Hu drums and Mareea Vegas bass. Louisa Nicklin added some nice saxophone breaks.
They open the evenings hostilities with Blondie’s Heart of Glass. Massive cross-over Disco Rock hit and elevated Debbie Harry to superstar status. Cemented by Atomic, after which she launched a solo career. Larkin handle the former, whilst Deans nails the latter.
Larkin also features on one of the nights many peaks with a superb interpretation of the Rap from Rapture. The song includes a shout-out to early Hip-Hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
DJ’s spinnin’ are savin’ my mind/ Flash is fast/ Flash is cool/ Francois sais pas/ Flashe no do.
This also helped bridge the gap between Punk and the emerging Hip-Hop. The Clash fans booed the Furious Five when they opened for them in America.
There really was a wealth of great songs covered, and it is unfair to try and award highlights.
The oldest of the pioneers is Grace Slick. She was one of three featured vocalists in Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane Experience, and her performances of White Rabbit and Somebody to Love captured the revolutionary heart of the Sixties as well as anyone else you care to mention.
She possibly laid down the template for Rock Chick with her loose lush, and liberated attitude. Her first solo album was called Manhole. Unapologetic, and she told the prudes to get fucked.
Handled by Jazmine and she has the appropriate scary witches’ power to bring the bring the blistering intensity required.
The real scary witch was Patti Smith in her hey-day. A beat poet and confidante of Bob Dylan and William Burroughs, which gave her authentic Hipster status.
The song she wrote with Boss Springsteen, Because the Night, helps define a Rock’n’roll banshee. Of course, it is sung by Jazmine.
Swann brings menace to Smith’s Dancing Barefoot. The ringing guitars are a perfect evocation of Sixties Folk Rock blending.
Swann also hits the sweet spot, on Patti Smith’s Gloria: In Excelsis Deo. The expansion and transcendence of Van Morrison which he would have knelt to himself. The guitars open out with crunching riffs, and Swann even yelps like Smith.
Kid Sister to Slick was Joan Jett. Her anthems Bad Reputation and I Love Rock’n’Roll are both given powerhouse vocal treatment by Runga.
Crimson and Clover was originally a sparkling Power Pop classic by Tommy James and the Shondells. In Joan Jett’s hands, she zapped it with some Rock fire.
Jazmine introduces it as a song about lesbian love. That is because it is the pivot point in the movie Monster, about the life of serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci give award-winning performances as the lovers. Specifically, the ice-skating scene which is set to the song is one of the most beautiful moments in film.
Great one, Jaz and band!
Maybe Julia Deans embodies the Rock Chick persona the best. They are all presented as sexy and hot in various ways from cool and detached, to StevieMac witchy. But Deans engages the audience with a smouldering flirtatious manner which is her trademark.
Especially after seeing her in numerous concert settings over the last few years of government madness and lockdowns.
It’s the age-old human behaviour of crisis times and heightened sexuality. What do you think Boomer means? That’s many of the audience tonight, me included.
Deans’ version of the Pretenders’ Hymn to Her lifts the dome of the Civic. High soaring vocals are completely arresting.
Her version of Heart’s Barracuda is a complete contrast. Hard rocking and laden with brutal Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song riffs.
The Atomic show dances out with the Bangles Walk Like an Egyptian.
Women are as vital on the popular music scene as they have always been. Recognition and space have been the issues. Those barriers are dissolving, and of that I am hopeful.
Rev. Orange Peel
Photography by Leonie Moreland
Set List
Heart of Glass – Blondie
Brass in Pocket – Pretenders
Hong Kong Garden – Siouxsie and the Banshees
Bad Reputation – Joan Jett and the Black Hearts
Dancing Barefoot – Patti Smith
Dreaming – Blondie
Back on the Chain Gang – Pretenders
Me Myself I – Joan Armatrading
Love is a Stranger – Eurythmics
Somebody to Love – Jefferson Airplane
Gloria (in Excelsis Deo) – Patti Smith
White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
Missionary Man – Eurythmics
Precious – Pretenders
Crimson and Clover – Tommy James and the Shondells/ Joan Jett and the Black Hearts
Rapture – Blondie
Thorn in my Side – Eurythmics
Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics
Because the Night – Patti Smith
Barracuda – Heart
I Love Rock’n’Roll – Joan Jett and the Black Hearts
Atomic – Blondie
Hymn to Her – Pretenders
Walk Like an Egyptian – The Bangles
