The Dream
.
The show is part of the band's Music Is Choice reunion tour after they called it quits in 2005 following two albums, many trippy and loved-up live shows, and winning the hearts of adoring fans around Aotearoa with their unique brand of psyche-rock reggae dub and soul.
And it seems, as well as the members' other musical projects, Trinity are back together again for the long haul since they have signed up to play Womad in March.
Tonight's almost two and a half hour set is a nostalgia trip, but more importantly it's a reminder of the transitory and cosmic live force the band are.
The power of Trinity is how they turn from delicate songs like
Beautiful People
(a serenading vocal and bass solo from Hemopo) and tender classic
Little Things
(which Maxwell introduces with a little joke: "Hope you've got your ear plugs. Haha."), to the heavy, propulsive chink and shin-shattering bass of
Egos
and
Two By Two
.
The latter starts out like a tense Tool song before morphing into a kumara digging work song, and ending by shaking the dance floor into a lather.
There are fluffy moments with the likes of
Touches Me
, where they sound like any other feel good reggae band. But songs like multi-part oonst epic
Egos
and the 20-or-so minute finale of
Sense and Cents
, which includes a Gooch-powered drum solo and a nod to the jazz wizardry of Herbie Hancock, they sound like no other band on the planet.
"We missed you guys heaps," is how a chuffed Maxwell put it early on in the night.
And, well, we missed you heaps too, bro.
