Goldenhorse, Breaks Co-Op at Bruce Mason Centre

The previous night, the second of Goldenhorse's national gallop at Takapuna's BMC had sold out, so this one was taking the overflow - but not much of one.

The seated venue was barely a third full, which played havoc with the energy levels during Goldenhorse's set and made from some baffling moments: "This song is dedicated to you, Auckland," announced frontwoman Kirsten Morelle before Northern Lights to an audience not big enough to create a decent traffic jam on either side of the bridge.

The line probably worked better the night before. And it's no small achievement for a local band whose natural audience isn't under-agers to be headlining a national theatre tour.

This outing is in the wake of second album Out of the Moon, a more rock-powered affair than their slow-burning classic debut Riverhead. And though the new songs seem designed to keep the band's live set perked up, they don't have the odd textures, hooks and melodic left-turns of the first album.

It also meant that, live, Morelle's voice was often competing - and losing - for its own space in the fulsome sound.

It had its moments, especially in Spice Islands with guitarists Geoffrey Maddock and Ben King on the song's twin-lead Bollywood-rock excursion and the gothic high drama of Trinkity Trunk.

But the overall effect was a going-through-the-motions warm-up for bigger nights to come.

In many ways, this night belonged to a shining performance by openers Breaks Co-Op, the Anglo-NZ studio outfit whose The Sound Inside has proved one of the albums of 2005.

The small wonder here was that they weren't a live band until they began rehearsals with roped-in players for this, their first tour. One of the group's principals, Zane Lowe, couldn't make due to his high-profile BBC radio career.

On stage, founding member Hamish Clark with English singer-guitarist Andy Lovegrove were joined by goodshirt's Rodney Fisher, TrinityRoots' Rio Hemopo and SJD's Tom Atkinson.

Laidback it might have been - they played mostly seated. But Lovegrove's distinctive folk-soul voice shone bright and clear with the rest of the co-op delivering rich backing harmonies and economic playing throughout. They were an effortless wonder.

Who: Goldenhorse, Breaks Co-Op
Where: Bruce Mason Centre
When: Saturday