Adam, I couldn’t agree more re the one-dimensional story. I was expecting something a bit more than a beautifully drawn and narrated but fundamentally simplistic story with no twist or surprise, barely even an ending. It was all so clunkingly obvious, and the music was at best sympathetic but in no way enabled the storytelling. I was expecting something a bit like Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots but instead got a Ministry for the Environment pamphlet for children set to bizarrely eclectic music.

Having said all of that, I thought the musicians (and Mr Weir Senior for that matter) were superbly talented at what they did, and I enjoyed the show overall. The greatest hits format in the second half did confuse me again – I think a performer needs to consider that the audience may well be totally ignorant of a band (or artistic cooperative, or whatever they call themselves) and its history. Had I been sitting next to a foreigner who had arrived in NZ that day, I would gladly have asked him or her whether they had a clue what the show was meant to be all about.

I reckon they need to start with a strong creative idea that serves as the inspiration for a coherent, audio-visual show (with both acts having some form of connection), or just book the Town Hall and crack out some tunes. Am sure it would be good either way as they did seem to enjoy themselves and seem like jolly nice people.

Thanks for the warning. Now I won’t inadvertantly waste money on their album, or the time spent listening to it.

They were an entirely Wellington outfit made up of musicians from many Wellington acts and had a reputation for producing mostly dub orientated music, which Wellington had a reputation – bordering on cliche – for.

I was curious whether the influence of musicians from outside Wellington has an impact on the FMP sound.

I hope this is clear enough for you.

I don’t really know what MBS was asking, because it was a badly-worded question. If he’s/she’s asking if there’s been a progression in the FMP sound, I said that there had been in the review. If MBS is asking if they’ve progressed since their last god knows how many tours because of Aucklanders, I couldn’t feasibly tell you, a) because I don’t actually think there were that many Aucklanders in the cast, b) because I’ve only been a fan of FMP since I picked up the Live At BATS album last year, and c) because I wasn’t able to follow this tour around the country.

in case you couldn’t read, Douggie.