19/12/2025

Andrew Keoghan – Pitt St Methodist Church: December 18, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Some concerts leave you talking in superlatives. This show by Andrew Keoghan also leaves me in silence such is its beauty, surprise and vision.

I am not alone. The attentiveness of the audience is palpable as each piece of his new work SPA is played. A reverence befitting the contemplative surrounds of Pitt St Methodist Church.

Michael Howell

First onto the altar is Michael Howell. Holding a nylon-strung acoustic guitar he offers exquisite plucked and strummed compositions. Mostly from 2026 album Sunlap 28 – titled for his 28^th year around our closest star. An intriguing project: he adopted the discipline of composing a piece every evening before sleep. He described them as Letting the moment exist.

We are offered a selection of these astonishing 365 compositions and two other gems. An opening piece (Kite in the Sky) was written after reading If I must die by Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer. Another composition Liminal had only arrived last Wednesday.

I am transfixed watching his fingers. Seeing him return to those moments he gave life to.

Different tunings. A sock as an improv capo. His face lost in offering us the elegance of what he has created. A multitude of sounds from delicate picking to emphatic strums. Hints of sonic exploration at the borderlands of jazz and folk. Reminders of acoustic Pat Metheney or early Bruce Cockburn.

A modest and broad smile between tunes offered to us in the pews. Dressed in casual shirt and pants. This is clearly more about the music than the performer.

A humble sense of gratitude that we are here, hearing these compositions. Ours is the pleasure. I could have watched and listened all night.

Andrew Keoghan

Unlike their avian analogues, many Kiwis fly off making a life elsewhere. Then, if we’re lucky they return from time to time – often about now with the convergence of summer and Christmas. Last week we had Nadia Reid back from Manchester. Tonight, its Andrew Keoghan, returning from Los Angeles. On my reckoning I last saw him 13 years ago at the Q Theatre. This is a very different space and show.

It’s a gathering of talent both on and off the altar. Within my line of sight in this intimate gathering are members of The Beths, The Phoenix Foundation, Reb Fountain’s band and Tiny Ruins. A sure sign this is letting a moment exist to quote Michael Howell again.

A string quartet take their seats and tune up. Host Matthew Crawley (formerly of Flying Out Records and the late great Golden Dawn) offers words of welcome and They didn’t have to do that but were told this is what you do to be taken seriously. Applause – as much for him having curated this occasion as the quip.

More applause as the lean and smiling Andrew Keoghan steps in front of what he calls the SPA Ensemble: Cass Basil (bass, Tiny Ruins, Carnivorous Plant Society ), Alistair Deverick (Lawrence Arabia band, drums), J.Y Lee (flute and sax, Avantdale Bowling Club), Rachel Clarke (vocals, Elisa), John-Paul Muir (piano), and Yoonseo Shin (harp, Exploding Rainbow Orchestra), along with Jess Hindin, Peau Halapua, Crystal Lin, and Rachel Wells (strings).

So much to make this evening unique. Princess Chelsea offers vocals on the Most Gentle Instrumental. The stunning Madeleine Xiao, just back from auditioning in London, is a guest pianist. But to single out moments and performers is to dissect the integrity of the whole.

This is SPA in its full expansive sweep; a hearing of the new album, as a continuous entity. A joy to watch its composer conduct, to watch the musicians watch him so intently, to watch his hands and arms move with the grace of dancers.

These are compositions in which instruments seem in conversation: one moment its drums in dialogue with keyboards; the next track there’s flute talking over strings. And few vocals in the lyrical sense – mainly the atmospherics of Rachel Clarke’s voice.

The exception is Keoghan’s interpretation of Claude Debussy’s Beau Soir from the 1800s in what felt, on Pitt St, like deliciously other-worldly French. Awash in yellow/orange light. Keoghan’s arms outstretched with soaring voice backed by piano and strings. The creator of this sublime occasion in full flight. Glorious.

A conversational hiatus after the last track off SPA to acknowledge family and the recent loss of his father. Domestic details that add a poignancy: he’s wearing in memory his father’s too-warm South Island merino socks on a muggy Auckland night.

What follows is a selection of earlier tracks from the Taite Prize -shortlisted Arctic Tales Divide (2011) and Every Orchid Offering (2016). Songs of depth and beauty. A welcome reminder of what a curated output Keoghan has as a back catalogue.

But what remains within as I ferry home is the delicious offering of SPA delivered by full ensemble. An all-too rare performance here in Keoghan’s homeland. And oh so fitting that we’ve heard his work in a space of sacredness and meditation.

Robin Kearns

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Azrie Azizi

Andrew Keoghan: