Anthonie Tonnon played the salubrious feeling The Meteor last night, as part of a tour of theatres through New Zealand and Australia. Being a theatre show, patrons were recommended to be at the venue when the doors opened at 8 pm. At 7:45 it suddenly started getting stormy outside, with wind, rain and a little bit of lightning; there was a giant ‘Two Free Hands’ poster on the Meteor’s window, with hands raised as if to welcome the weather after a sweltering day. It wasn’t such good timing for those entering the venue at this moment, however. In a white shirt prior to starting, Tonnon suited up before the performance, handkerchief in pocket. And with the venue set up with five rows of tiered seating, it was obvious this was going to be more of a ‘performance’ than a ‘gig’. Kicking off at 8:17, it became clear a few people missed the memo about the start time (most sadly for those that got tickets through Undertheradar, which clearly specified 8:30pm!). Nevertheless, the performance was, for me, mostly excellent, full of great music and humour. And it was one of those performances that makes me feel even warmer the morning after, thinking back on it, like a good piece of theatre should. Audience participation was required a couple of times, such as during the irrigation themed ‘Water Underground’, which demanded the audience chant the song's title over and over through the song.  Stories were told between songs, including of his father’s history as an adolescent boy racer in Morrinsville, before playing ‘Sugar in the Petrol Tank’, off his 2015 ‘Successor’ album. And Tonnon used a lot of movement through his performance, acting a bit like an A.I. robot that was just learning how humans dance, in a theatrical fashion. 

Ian Duggan

HUP caught up with incredible Whanganui-based songwriter and performer Anthonie Tonnon mid-tour, ahead of his show at The Meteor on Friday 26th of January in support of his latest release, the Hands EP.

​Kia ora Anthonie! How has the tour been going?
It has been a joy - we had a really magical show at an observatory hall in Whanganui - it had a one person stage for giving Astronomy lectures, and I played on that.

You recently moved there from Auckland, what was behind that move?
I've moved in the last year - I spend a lot of time travelling throughout the year, but I like Whanganui as a home - there's a good energy there at the moment, with a lot of creative people moving there. I feel like that's starting to happen to a few regional cities, because it feels time to try new places.

How would you describe your music to people that haven’t heard it?
Pop music, but from a strange part of the pop music family tree, evolved in parallel but not quite the same. I'm in Australia on tour at the moment, and the analogy I'd draw is - imagine all you ever knew were placental mammals, and then you came to Australia and found all the mammals were marsupials.

What are your main inspirations, both in life and musically?
I get inspired by people I know or people I meet as I work. When you have people you know and understand, and they come out with a profound truth, that's a really deep inspiration to me.

What are your favourite songs to play live?
Songs come and go from my set. Every song goes through a cycle: first it's difficult to play, then I start to get it right, then it's wonderful, and an anchor in the set - then eventually it needs to be retired for a while. Then I'll change technical things in my set and the song might come back to life in a new version. I've just started playing Sugar In The Petrol Tank again with a new arrangement - that song started from anecdotes from my Dad about being a Boy Racer in Morrinsville in the 70s. But I'm also playing a lot of quite upbeat music with drum machines and synths. Two Free Hands is a pretty good anchor at the moment.