Auckland Sounds 2025 – OMD, Tom Bailey, Jon Stevens & Diesel – Eventfinda Stadium: February 27, 2025
AUCKLAND SOUNDS delivered a star-studded line-up to take an ageing audience back to their heyday at the North Shore’s Eventfinda Stadium last night. Carin Newbould was there to report on the retro action, with Michael Jeong taking pics of what went down.
AUCKLAND SOUNDS is a bit of a weird one – an indoor festival, midweek, with a super-long programme of artistes playing their hearts out well into the night. It’s an established format that works, though, with many of the punters happy to brave Auckland traffic for an early 5.30pm start. When I arrived, towards the end of The Narcs’ set, the place was pretty much half full with the predominantly middle-aged crowd already hitting the bar and the dancefloor. Featuring local legend Kim Willoughby, The Narcs rattled through a playlist which got the crowd going and enthusiastically eager for the rest of the bill.
Diesel
I have to admit to not being too familiar with Diesel prior to this gig, but it seems that the rest of the audience were. Variously known as Mark Lizotte and Johnny Diesel as well as adopting the singular moniker Diesel (like Passenger), he brought along a three piece backing group, some of whom had been playing with him for over 20 years. Diesel’s powerful vocals and undeniable guitar talent were backed by drums, bass and a rather incongrous trombone, allowing him to swing between genres from soulful love songs to wild stadium rock. He’s apparently Jimmy Barnes’ brother in law and he definitely did his rocking relly proud; Tip of my Tongue got the growing crowd whooping along and nicely warmed up for Jon Stevens.
Jon Stevens
Stevens may be 63, but you’d never know it. Pretty much alternating between Noiseworks and INXS tracks, he commanded the stage with a sexy swagger and oodles of cheeky audience interaction. Talking over the distinctive intro to Need You Tonight, Stevens and his 5 piece band didn’t put a foot, a plectrum or a drumstick wrong. Those INXS songs may be old, but jeez, they hold up well: the energy generated by the distinctive riff heralding Devil Inside was electric. The band were tight and given the opportunity to showcase themselves through a series of solos: the guitarist segued Need You Tonight into a bit of Bob Marley, for no good reason except to get the audience involved in a lengthy call and respond.
Jon Stevens asked if anyone remembered Jezebel from 1979, accusing the audience of being “old bastards” when they did. There were plenty of old bastards who not only remembered it, 46 years later, but were happy to sing along, continuing through to Montego Bay which provided a feelgood festival finish to Stevens’ scintillating set. He was definitely one of the highlights of the evening – in the absence of Michael Hutchence, Stevens delivered a fabulous reminder of why INXS were such a great band.
Tom Bailey
Next up was Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey. No longer part of the trio which came to fame and spawned a string of hits, these days Bailey is backed by a trio of younger laydeez who accompany him on keyboards and cello, percussion and drums and bass guitar. They were all very glamorous and accomplished, but it seemed odd that Tom had a harem – slightly reminiscent of Charlie and his Angels. The entire twins (quadruplets?) collective were dressed in white, with Bailey in a suit, sparkly sneakers and sunglasses.
Although Bailey said he “was nervous” to be performing in Auckland (odd, given that he’s performed lots of international dates recently), Love On Your Side provided a strong start and You Take Me Up introduced a huge balloon thrown out into the crowd, trying to amplify the festival feel. Unfortunately it was short-lived when an annoying punter decided to swiftly pop it. There were no replacement spheres (it definitely didn’t live up to Coldplay standards) so they only other gimmick was vertical light poles dressing the stage. At one point during Lies, Bailey picked one up and wielded it like Luke Skywalker.
He could have used a bit more “force” when covering Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer, which would normally be a dead cert to excite an audience, but which fell a little flat. It wasn’t really needed, though; the audience were happy with a run through of the Twins’ greatest hits, punctuated by a brief foray into the title track of Bailey’s solo album of 2018, Science Fiction. He saved the most popular tracks for last, as any sensible muso would – Doctor Doctor received a huge cheer within three notes of the intro, a lot of jugging about on the dancefloor and a loud singalong. Asking “Can we sing one more song together?”, the audience were happy to oblige Bailey when he delivered the one song it seemed everyone had been waiting for – Hold Me Now. It was beautiful and ethereal, with a spinning globe on screen and a glitterball throwing light around the arena. Hold Me Now still holds up, in my opinion.
OMD
A swift set change led into headliners OMD taking the stage at 10.10pm – normally the time a midweek gig would be winding up and sending punters on their merry way across Auckland back home. There was no chance of this being an early night, though – Andy McCluskey said at the outset that they were there to give us 70 minutes of entertainment, “a festival set full of singles”. Set up on illuminated 80s style plinths, the duo of McCluskey and Paul Humphreys were accompanied by an additional keyboard player and a drummer. As their stuff always did, it relied heavily on electronica to deliver a well-rounded sound.
It was Paul Humphreys’ 65th birthday and he reckoned that he’d lost his voice in the warm up and sound check, but valiantly kept going. You’d never have known there was a problem, as he delivered beautiful, swoony vocals for the much loved 1986 hit (Forever) Live and Die (gosh, didn’t we love those parentheses in the 80s?).
The set veered between the sentimental love songs the fans love and the upbeat boppy numbers the fans love to dance to. There was even a bit of energetic punk-style pogoing to Messages, although McCluskey conceded later in the night that he “needs a rest from dancing – I’m 65 years old”. Sadly, a significant number of the audience members couldn’t hack it and needed an earlier night – by the time If You Leave rolled around, halfway through the set, OMD were losing punters who did leave. It’s probably different for the outdoor weekend gigs later in the tour, but it was all a bit late for mid-week Auckland lightweights. Did they need all 5 acts? Not really. Could they have been cut down or compressed a bit? Yes, probably. Would people still have been happy? Yes, absolutely.
Secret is a happy little tune and the latter songs finishing the set were all upbeat and catchy – ear-worm-worthy Locomotion, the jaunty Sailing on the Seven Seas and culminating in the big finish, anti-war pop ditty Enola Gay – OMD’s signature song and first UK top ten hit, way back in 1980.
McCluskey said that they last came to New Zealand in 1986 – can that be right, or like so many of us getting older, have their memories failed them? Right or wrong, they promised they’d be back again soon. Hope so… whilst the fan base have still got the energy to bop before braving a late night trip back to the retirement communities, wielding the Gold Cards. Thanks, Auckland Sounds, you were synth-tastic.
Carin Newbould
Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Michael Jeong:
OMD:
Tom Bailey:
Jon Stevens:
Diesel:
The Narcs:
The Sound Series continues with Selwyn Sounds (Christchurch) on Saturday 1 March and Hutt Sounds (Wellington) on Sunday 2 March. Tickets are available from https://soundsseries.co.nz/
SET LISTS
The Narcs with Kim Willoughby
No Turning Back
Summerhill
Precious
Lazy Susan
One Way
Smile
You Took Me (Heart and Soul)
Over My Head
She Has To Be
Diamonds
Diesel
One More Time
Man Alive
Never Miss Your Water
Love Junk
Have Love, Will Travel
Come To Me
Tip Of My Tongue
Cry In Shame
Jon Stevens
Touch
New Sensation
Miles & Miles
Devil Inside
Never Tear Us Apart
No Lies
Need You Tonight
Hot Chilli Woman
Don’t Change
Take Me Back
Jezebel
Montego Bay
Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey
Love On Your Side
You Take Me Up
Science Fiction
The Gap
Lay Your Hands O(n Me
Lies
Psycho Killer (Talking Heads cover)
King For A Day
Doctor Doctor
Hold Me Now
OMD
Evolution of Species
Electricity
Messages
History of Modern, Part 1
(Forever) Live and Die
If You Leave
Souvenir
Joan of Arc
Maid of Orleans
Talking Loud and Clear
Secret
So In Love
Dreaming
Pandora’s Box
Locomotion
Sailing on the Seven Seas
Enola Gay
