The Others Way Festival – 13th Floor Review #1: November 29, 2025
The 13th Floor’s John Bradbury files his report after last night’s Others Way Festival. Photos by Chris Warne & Philip Chignell.
The Others Way remains Auckland’s most exciting night of live music for two simple reasons, variety and movement. K Road buzzed from mid afternoon into the small hours, and this year the festival felt more fluid than ever. No bottlenecks. No long queues in the wet. No sprinting between venues only to find the doors already closed. Instead the night unfolded freely, making it possible to catch more variety in a single evening than at any previous edition.
While daylight still poured through Pitt Street Church, Holly Arrowsmith opened the evening with calm confidence. Her voice carried easily in the room and the arrangements breathed with space, lifted by Anita Clark’s expressive violin and coloured by Tom Healy’s electric guitar. Her Joni Mitchell cover The Last Time I Saw Richard and The Weather Station’s To Talk About slotted naturally alongside her own material. As people peeled away between songs to reach their next acts, the room gradually thinned.
After a short reset, Shannon Lay stepped out to an audience of barely a dozen, transforming the quiet church into a focused listening space. Opening with A Thread to Find, her acoustic guitar patterns circled and shimmered and the crowd slowly grew during the set. And when singing a cappella she held the room completely still. The vocal clarity, delicate guitar work and setting sun created a meditative moment in the church to prepare us all for the evening ahead.
Stepping out of the church and down into Double Whammy, the change in energy was immediate. Georgia Knight took the stage alone, dressed in black and cradling her autoharp as if it were part prop and part weapon, fully leaning into her self described “hostess from hell” persona. Her band’s flight from Melbourne had been delayed but she turned the setback into part of the performance, swigging mini bar spirits, offering them to the crowd and commanding the room with sharp, ominous and off kilter charisma. Midway through the set the crowd’s noisy chatter fell away after someone bluntly called for quiet. Knight rode the moment with complete control. Shortly after her set ended her band finally arrived, too late to join her but in time to enjoy the rest of the night before their early morning flight back to Melbourne.
Out on K Road dusk had settled and people clustered in the entrance to St Kevin’s Arcade comparing notes on who they had seen and swapping tips on who to see next. On the new outdoor stage Saya Gray was already deep in motion. Her set unfolded in bursts of bass, shifting grooves and sudden melodic openings. The crowd responded instantly, arms rising when asked and dancing as the music expanded outward.
But the pull for something with more edge and bite was irresistible and Toody Cole at Galatos provided exactly that. Her set was loud, raw and fully alive. With her bass and the drums locked tightly, guitar riffs tore through the mix and her voice carried a rasp that never softened. A broken string forced a brief pause, the band huddled, restrung and launched straight back in. The interruption only sharpened the urgency, reminding the room of just how direct and unvarnished her songs can be.
By the time Sharon Van Etten took the outdoor stage the sky had darkened and the crowd thickened in anticipation. Returning to Auckland for the fourth time, she leaned heavily into material from her Attachment Theory project, including Live Forever and Somethin’ Ain’t Right, and wove in older favourites like Comeback Kid. The band was buoyant, tightly rehearsed and clearly enjoying themselves. Van Etten was open, energetic and in strong voice. She ended with a declaration of love for Auckland and New Zealand that sounded sincere and the full throated sing along to Seventeen closed the set on a high.
Back inside Double Whammy, Womb shifted the tone again, drawing the late night crowd into their dream lit world. Their songs surged in dark waves of guitar, synth and drums, with shades of The Cure and Cocteau Twins glowing through the arrangements. The atmosphere was immersive, creating a deep pocket of shadow and intensity suited to the venue and the packed, enthusiastic audience.
Womb’s set might have been the natural end point, but K Road was wide awake and still pulsing with movement. The night continued down the busy street in search of one last lift. Just before midnight Clear Path Ensemble took the stage at Galatos and steered the night toward its close. Their jazz rooted grooves were warm and unhurried, carried by flute and sax lines that hovered above shifting drum patterns, flowing guitar lines and subtle keyboard pulses. The small crowd moved from early set swaying to early morning dancing, and despite the hour few left before the end. The final track built into a quietly triumphant disco tinged jam, soprano sax and flute dancing across the top of the drum based rhythm.
By the end of the night everyone had their own version of The Others Way. Conversations buzzed with mentions of standout performances by WITCH, Geneva AM, Elliot and Vincent and all the other artists you wished you could have squeezed in. That is the reality of the festival. With forty two acts it is not one experience but many overlapping ones, shaped by the choices you make beforehand and on the night. This year felt freer, easier and more open than previous versions. The takeover of K Road with the outdoor stage created a clear centre of gravity, making the whole night easier to navigate, and a warm, still evening helped too. Wherever you went something was happening and more often than not it was something worth staying for. That is the magic of The Others Way. It is the kind of festival you leave buzzing, replaying moments you did not expect to find and wondering what you missed.
John Bradbury
More Photos!
W.I.T.C.H:
C.O.F.F.I.N:
Elliot and Vincent:
HDU:
Pearly*
