Arthur Hill – Tuning Fork: January 18, 2026  (13th Floor Concert Review)  

Arthur Hill may not have fellow Brit Ed Sheeran’s following (yet), but the online sensation came to Auckland on the same weekend to deliver his own scorcher of a gig at the Tuning Fork last night. Carin Newbould joined hundreds of fans to see whether Hill lived up to the hype.

Arthur Hill may not be a household name, but he’s not short of fans: the Londoner has over 1.7 TikTok followers, 315,000 Instagram followers, his 2022 breakout hit Iced Coffee was repurposed in over 3 million content clips and Tiny Room has had 6 million streams and counting. All very impressive, until you look at support act Max Allais’ stats – 3.3 million TikTok-ers and 860,000 Instagram followers. It’s not a competition, but there must be considerable clicking crossover, because the two twenty-something singer/songwriters have a lot in common – soulful melodies, sharp lyrics, an often wistful air and the impression that they’re telling stories straight from their hearts.

Together, they provided a comfy, cohesive and carefully structured individual sets which formed a really enjoyable night of entertainment – dragging punters away from individually scrolling their screens at home and into a collective IRL gig experience. An “all ages” concert, it was probably the first experience of live music for some of the youthful punters in attendance.

Max Allais

At 23, Allais was probably a contemporary or big brother to many of the crowd. Brought up in Auckland, he’s now based in Europe but came back to the Southern hemisphere to support Hill on this short Aussie/Kiwi tour. Having played Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, the two nights in Auckland are finishing off the run; a shame, as I’m sure other destinations would have had equally enthusiastic ticket sales. There was certainly a lot of love in the air at the Tuning Fork.

Allais’ debut EP is to be released on 13 March, following this tour. His material may be unreleased so far in traditional format, but that’s not to say it’s unknown or unfamiliar – When The Party Ends has had over 5 million Spotify streams. Max was backed up by another guitarist on this occasion, but he’s usually a solo artiste, with raw and honest emotions reminiscent of Lewis Capaldi or Calum Scott. He’s known on YouTube for his viral covers -another way to catch attention amongst the Gen Z scrollers – and throws a couple into the mix tonight, namely Niall Horan’s This Town and Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself (although Ed Sheeran was keen to include a snippet of this in his gig on Friday, pointedly reminding the somewhat larger audience of 40,000 that he, in fact, wrote it).

I was genuinely impressed and intrigued by Allais. I can see why he’s popular online, but he’s also an engaging live performer… one to watch. I hope when he’s been Everywhere, Max comes back home again for some solo shows.

ARTHUR HILL

You know when you go to a gig not expecting much, but end up being blown away? This was one of those. In anticipation of the night, I’d done my due diligence, read up on and listened to Hill’s back catalogue of two 6-track EPs (2022’s In The Middle Of Somewhere, re-released last year alongside second offering Missed Again), but not having waded through the Tik-Tok stuff I’d failed to recognise his charisma and humour. He’s like a British Benson Boone, not only due to the similar age, dark curls and hairy top-lip adornment, but with his fun: Hey Arthur! has had over 4 million Spotify plays and the charmingly titled, to the point Fuck You was predictably well received. Other crowd favourites were Lily, Miracle and Right Now, which got the entire Tuning Fork jumping as instructed.

Accompanied by two guitarists and a drummer, there was plenty of banter both amongst the band and with the audience. Following Bride & The Gloom, Hill said “I wanna marry you Auckland!”, followed by lots of talk of anniversaries being celebrated, engagements taking place and an invitation to return as best man at a wedding in two years’ time. Hill pointed out that the cynical lyrics to the song would have to be adapted for a happy occasion, but Hey Arthur! – no one would mind.

The crowd chanted “one more song!” repeatedly before Hill returned for his encore, saying that he’d in fact give them two – Dead In The Disco, with a fabulously flamboyant and fun OTT intro, and Appetite. He sold out the Brixton Academy on his European Tour and the Tuning Fork is clearly somewhat smaller, but I’m sure Hill will easily fill a larger venue next time around – maybe the neighbouring Spark Arena? Wherever it is, this boomer will be joining those Gen X kids in the queue to get in, when he’s Back Here Again.

Carin Newbould

And like Ed Sheeran, Arthur Hill is playing two nights in Auckland. Click here for tickets to tonight’s show. 

MAX ALLAIS SETLIST

  1. What I Gotta Do
  2. Gave It All Away
  3. Anywhere But Home
  4. Who I Love
  5. This Town (cover of Niall Horanhit)
  6. Wherever You Go
  7. Happy Now
  8. Close To You
  9. Yesterday
  10. Love Yourself (cover of Justin Bieberhit)
  11. Everywhere
  12. When The Party Ends
  13. Lost In Love

ARTHUR HILL SETLIST

  1. Thunderstruck (cover of AC/DC hit)
  2. She’s So Handsome
  3. Late For The Reservation
  4. Iced Coffee
  5. John Wayne
  6. Man In The Middle
  7. Back Here Again
  8. Fuck You
  9. The Forgotten Medley – Too Much Ain’t Enough/ Tiny Room/ How About Then/ Try A  Little Harder/ Passing Thought
  10. You’re Not A God
  11. Right Now
  12. Lily
  13. Bride & The Gloom
  14. Miracle
  15. Hey Arthur!

Encore

  1. Dead In The Disco
  2. Appetite

 

 

 

Arthur Hill plays a second sold out night at the Tuning Fork tonight, Monday 19 January.

Carin Newbould
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