Marlon Williams and KOMMI – Spark Arena: June 21, 2025
It’s old time waiata on the sound system as Spark Arena fills. This wouldn’t be my choice of venue, I mutter within, descending the steep concrete steps, feet sticking to concrete floor from accumulations of beer spillage at past shows. I want to see Marlon Williams, but not here. But by the end, I see […]
Come Together: Live Rust – Civic Theatre: June 20, 2025
Best concert of the year so far? I think so! Come Together: Live Rust hit the ball out of the park with this one.
Matariki with Ria Hall & The Auckland Philharmonia – Auckland Town Hall: June 19, 2025
Ria Hall and the Auckland Philharmonia perform songs of defiance and redemption to celebrate Matariki at the Auckland Town Hall.
Georgia Lines & Friends – Civic Theatre: June 15, 2025
We go Under The Stars with Georgia Lines and her very special friends in what turns out to be a very special concert.
Earth Tongue & Troy Kingi – Double Whammy: June 14, 2025
It was strange stepping into a venue that felt both completely new and intimately familiar – like walking forward and moving backward in time.
Imperial Triumphant + Cold Ceiling, No Exit & Windswept -Mothership: June 13, 2025
Imperial Triumphant. Formed in New York (where they like Jazz) by Zachary Ezrin in 2005, avant garde, experimental, even transcendental in nature, Imperial Triumphant have in their rua decades of existence, edged the Black Metal genre out of the dark ages, into an intellectual realm that the vapid have revilled against, while the valorous have […]
Jessica Pratt & Tiny Ruins – Bruce Mason Centre: June 11, 2025
There’s awkward silence, and then there’s quiet. Somehow Jessica Pratt managed to keep a thousand or so people quiet for just under an hour and there was nothing awkward about it. In fact it was sublime.
Japanese Breakfast – Auckland Town Hall: June 7, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Japanese Breakfast made their much-anticipated New Zealand concert debut last night, bringing their Melancholy Tour to a full house at Auckland’s iconic Town Hall.
Mel Parsons – Tuning Fork: June 6, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Mel Parsons led a confidently understated band on the Tuning Fork stage, her between song banter in upbeat juxtaposition to the lyrical content’s often somber and melancholy tone.
Hollie Smith – Artworks Theatre, Waiheke Island: June 6, 2025
This year NZ Music Month is leaking into June. At least on Waiheke where Hollie Smith has brought The Bones Tour to the island’s theatre. Sold out and not surprising. Despite only 40 minutes away by ferry, we rarely get the bigger names in Kiwi music here.
Dave Dobbyn & Delaney Davidson – Auckland Town Hall: June 4, 2025
Last night…described as ‘Selected Songs’ amounted to a dream set list, reaching back into a catalogue of Aotearoa’s finest compositions that zero in on Dave Dobbyn’s central themes: love, hope and rootedness in this land.
Chelsea Wolfe – The Powerstation: May 30, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
With May coming to a close, we turn our attention to The Powerstation, where Chelsea Wolfe held court last night. The 13th Floor’s Simon Coffey and Brenna Jo Gotje file these words and images.
Ash Grunwald – Tuning Fork: May 30, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
The devil came to the Tuning Fork tonight. He said his name was Ash Grunwald and he spoke with an Aussie accent, but when he sang it was with such power and soul that no earthly being could muster such a voice.
Roachford – Tuning Fork: May 28, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Andrew Roachford brought his 80s-style r&b to the Tuning Fork while channeling the soul greats of the 60s and 70s.
The Lemonheads – Double Whammy: May 28, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
The Lemonheads returned to Auckland, selling out Double Whammy. Simon Coffey was on the scene and files this report.
Train – Auckland Town Hall: May 28, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Auckland was in full chaos mode. Rain poured down on a Wednesday at the final days of NZ music month, and just up the road from Auckland Town Hall, a surprise Lorde pop-up gig had fans scrambling to find the right queue. But inside the Town Hall, something entirely different was unfolding — a night […]
Snarky Puppy – Powerstation: May 25, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Snarky Puppy returned after a 6-year hiatus to bring their brand of fusion jazz to Auckland and the sold-out Powerstation crowd was very happy to have them back.
Swallow the Rat, Memory Foam & Warm Leather – Whammy Bar: May 23, 2025
Swallow the Rat kicked off their Aotearoa tour tonight, releasing a new EP – Face Unpopular, and also announcing an 18-date tour of Europe in September. With fellow Tamaki Makaurau post-punker Memory Foam on the bill, an evening of riffs, rhythms and raciousness lay ahead for 13th Floor Reviewer Simon Coffey.
Voom – Double Whammy: May 23, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Double Whammy was the place to be on this Friday night in May as New Zealand Music Month marches on to the sounds of Voom.
Calla Of Ursa – Neck Of The Woods: May 22, 2025 (13th Floor Concert Review)
This is what New Zealand Music Month is all about…catching an adventurous new artist with music music about to be released and a sound all their own. Calla Of Ursa fits the bill to a tee.