Denzel went on his own adventure to find a mosh and found it in a sea of sweaty bodies and Miss June.
After seeing ¾ of the Inside//Out team mosh it up last weekend at Gig.One, I got a massive hit of FOMO, not because I wasn’t enjoying my weekends, but because I was missing live music and that oh so glorious thing that comes with live music….the mosh.
So I kicked my A into G and scoured Facebook for events happening soon, low and behold we have a potential candidate: Miss June at The Tuning Fork. Now I wasn’t really sure who Miss June was but a quick listen to the album “Bad Luck Party” and I was sold on going. It was exactly what I was looking for, an alternative indie band who know how to rock a show and have the potential to deliver a great mosh.
Saturday night rolled around and we were off. Laszlo Reynolds and Chewy Gum warmed the crowd up with a range of alternative and punk sounds to get the blood flowing, giving everyone the chance to mentally prepare for what was to come. When Miss June stepped out, they were met with a thunderous applause and it solidified that the crowd was ready. And OH BOY, did Annabel and the gang come prepared. Opening with the loud and riotous ‘Enemies’, the crowd was instantly engaged, from the frothers up the front to the lowkey head bobbers at the back. Our eyes locked to the stage and our ears focused on the sound.
A few tracks into the set, the guitar riffs started to consume me, and I said laters to my homies and headed for where the frothers unite; the mosh. This venture was met with instant delight when Miss June dropped ‘Best girl’ and made the crowd go wild. Swarms of crowds moving like a turbulent sea, bodies flying, heads jerking, it was a chaotic paradise.
As the set progressed further, the chaos ensued, and the crowd was loving every minute of it. Miss June recognized the adoration of the crowd and responded with an array of guitar solos and crowd surfing moments to send the crowd into further pandemonium. It was around this time that ‘Orchid’ came round in the set (one of my favs on the album) and I lost my shit. I started belting out the lyrics and swaying with the momentum of the crowd. Unfortunately, I lost my footing and stumbled my way to the ground, yet instantaneously dozens of hands reached down to drag me back to the promised land.
There’s a mysterious bond that occurs in the mosh, as for all the anarchic disorder that happens within it there is also a comradery that we are here for the same reason and for all the shoving we do we also have each other’s back. I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing this comradery firsthand many times and Saturday night wasn’t any different.
The set came to a close, encores were chanted and Annabel, Tom, Chris and Jun greeted us with playing the famous Seven Nation Army riff which got the crowd humming for one last head bang, this was accompanied by the bands’ last song ‘Drool’, a fitting end to a great set.
Lights came on, Miss June disappeared backstage and the band of sweaty bodies dispersed. Yet nothing but smiles and “fuck that was soooo good’ echoed as the The Tuning Fork emptied. Thank you, Miss June, for giving Auckland one of its first chances to rock out with fellow frothers, something that was well missed and is hopefully here again to stay.
Searching for Chaotic Paradise with Miss June by Denzel De Ruysscher
All Images taken by Denzel De Ruysscher