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My Kiwi friend Miss Mac is gorgeous. She’s also smart, funny, and can sing like no other. Best of all, she has a lovely laugh which you may occasionally hear during the above Flight of the Concords track, Business Time. 

fotc

We had queued with thousands of other ‘fans’ – apparently it was a fan-only event, however I’m thinking the die-hard fans were at the much smaller Hammersmith Apollo gig on Sunday – to take our seats at Wembley Arena, and no-one seemed more overwhelmed by the surroundings than dear Bret & Jermaine.

The set lasted for almost two hours, from Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor to The Robots are Dead, Bowie Song, Same Girl and What’s Wrong With the World Today, along with a stadium-worthy singalong for Epileptic Dogs*. They even threw in some new (read: not on the TV show) tracks, including a gem from Bret, told from the perspective of Tony, a small-town tour guide, as well as Jermaine’s extended tale of wooing a lady – in the 1300s. Miss Mac & I were particularly pleased to hear our personal favourites, Innercity Pressure and I’m Not Cryin’ (respectively), while music teacher Miss Mac later gushed over the lads’ musicianship – especially Jermaine on his ukulele bass.

Accompanied by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (one chap, aptly named Nigel), the pair’s sheer enthusiasm for playing such a massive venue, combined with the on-stage banter, made for an awesome show. And Arj Barker was quite good as a warm-up, although not as dry as he has been at shows in Australia/the US.

VERDICT: Four & a half stars. The extra half is for the fact that I’ve finally discovered the genius of Jermaine (I must’ve been blinded by Bret’s lint-ridden jersey collection?). The only things missing were Murray and his Leggy Blonde.

*Any non-fans should note these are indeed real song names. What do you expect, they’re a folk comedy duo from NZ.

Actual fans should note Jermaine is set to erase all memory of Eagle vs. Shark by starring as the villain in the upcoming Men in Black III. Cheers Matt for the tip!

FOTC + Arj photo from Luzer.

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Re-branding can be difficult. Jif cleaning products became Cif (try pronouncing ‘jif’ with a Spanish ‘j’ and see how the European marketing team may have struggled) in 2001, while Mum’s favourite Olay facial products can be called Oil of Ulan, Oil of Ulay or Oil of Olay, depending on where she’s washing her face. It’s not just cleaning products, though. The humble kiwifruit (née Chinese gooseberry) was briefly known as a melonette until canny marketers in NZ coined a term that was both cute and evocative of their Land of the Long White Cloud. It also meant the producers avoided US import tariffs on melons and berries.  And so in 1959, the kiwi (fruit, as opposed to the flightless bird) was born. Kiwifruit are now available in three colours (below left), and for those concerned about the fuzz (like the little chap above), there’s always the hairless kiwi berries/baby kiwis, which are still struggling to find a suitably catchy name.       Kiwi photo from Terry Border who bends stuff, plus he has a book for people into food and bent wire in disconcerting arrangements. Baby kiwi photo from Sifu_Renka. Kiwi types from vovchychko.

Re-branding can be difficult.

Jif cleaning products became Cif (try pronouncing ‘jif’ with a Spanish ‘j’ and see how the European marketing team may have struggled) in 2001, while Mum’s favourite Olay facial products can be called Oil of Ulan, Oil of Ulay or Oil of Olay, depending on where she’s washing her face.

It’s not just cleaning products, though.

The humble kiwifruit (née Chinese gooseberry) was briefly known as a melonette until canny marketers in NZ coined a term that was both cute and evocative of their Land of the Long White Cloud. It also meant the producers avoided US import tariffs on melons and berries.  And so in 1959, the kiwi (fruit, as opposed to the flightless bird) was born.

Kiwifruit are now available in three colours (below left), and for those concerned about the fuzz (like the little chap above), there’s always the hairless kiwi berries/baby kiwis, which are still struggling to find a suitably catchy name.

kiwi types   kiwi berries   

Kiwi photo from Terry Border who bends stuff, plus he has a book for people into food and bent wire in disconcerting arrangements. Baby kiwi photo from Sifu_Renka. Kiwi types from vovchychko.

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