Gig Review: Blindspott @ The Trust Arena - 29 July 2022

Friday, 29 July saw me heading to The Trusts Arena for my first gig in a couple of months, and I was incredibly excited for this show. West Auckland’s Blindspott were playing their “homecoming” show, their first in West Auckland in 16 years, with Written By Wolves and DJ Kane Hawkins as support. As a Westie myself, I was very excited to see a band that is so connected to the area I grew up in. The event was a near sellout, with tons of people turning up to see what would no doubt be an iconic show in Blindspotts career.


I saw Written By Wolves for the first time at Ding Dong Lounge at the beginning of June. I was very impressed by that show and excited to see what they could do with a bigger venue like Trusts Arena. Part of what made Written’s Ding Dong show so great was the intimacy of the venue. While it is much harder to create a feeling of intimacy in an arena, the band certainly did not disappoint. They brilliantly fulfilled the job of a support act: to get the crowd hyped. Mikey is a fantastic front man. He had great energy and got the crowd super psyched for the main act. My personal highlight of Written By Wolves’ set was their finale, where they ripped through a searing cover of Metallica’s ‘Master Of Puppets'. 


As the lights went down for Blindspott the roar that came from the crowd was the kind that could only come from a hometown show (in West Auckland no less). They took the stage and as they kicked into ‘R.I.P’, the crowd went wild. The band played all the best songs from their two full albums, self-titled Blindspott and End The Silence, along with the two new songs on their latest EP Volume 1, ‘Martyr’ and ‘Tonight’. I was one row back from the front and sang along to every single song. Occasionally, the whole crowd would be pushed forward like a ship on a rough sea. Besides hearing the new stuff live, another of my highlight songs was ‘Yours Truly’ off of End The Silence. Blindspott’s encore was ‘Mind Dependency’, before finishing off the night with ‘Nil By Mouth’. It was apparent how excited Blindspott were to be playing in their home town, and that excitement was certainly reflected by Friday’s crowd. It was certainly unusual seeing them without Marcus, their original guitarist, but Brandon Li Reihana definitely held his own as the new guitarist, however, the vocal harmonies that Marcus added to the band's sound will definitely be missed. 


Blindspott's 2022 tour got off to a fantastic start on Friday. I can't wait to hear the rest of their new music, and of course to see them live again. Even after 15 years apart, the band are tighter than ever and we are all thrilled to have them back.

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