Our weekend treat is buying tickets for ATOMIC! Hailing the Pioneering Women of Rock at the Civic Theatre tonight. Atomic! is a live music show with NZ artists Boh Runga, Julia Deans, Dianne Swann, Gussie Larkin and Jazmine Mary collaborating on vocals and backed by an all-female line-up of musicians. They are only playing one night in Auckland so it’s an opportunity not to be missed (although it did take me about 3 weeks to finally make a decision and buy the damn tickets). 

The concert is great! The gals play Blondie, Eurythmics, Pretenders, Patti Smith, Jefferson Airplane, and Joan Jett amongst others. They even have a good go at Heart’s Barracuda! Ann Wilson has an amazing voice so that’s not an easy ask.

We are upstairs in the circle, second row, pretty good seats. I look around and some people are up and dancing, but I just do the seated shuffle dance and stay in my chair. The ladies on stage are very encouraging to the crowd and by the end most people downstairs are dancing and a fair number upstairs. The woman next to Susannah stands to dance and swings her arms wildly. She is wearing gigantic rings and is completely oblivious that her bejewelled fingers are flying inches from Susannah’s face. Susannah leans into me and I end up putting my arm around her and using my hand to shield her. At the same time I am laughing my head off. It’s just such a ridiculous situation but the lady is having such a good time that we don’t say anything and let her dance away. 

The whole crowd is having a great time and I enjoy the enjoyment. It’s a fun night out.