Hello Sailor’s 40th Anniversary Concert: A Tribute To Mr B – Powerstation (Concert Review)
The Powerstation was packed with fans and musicians alike, ready to pay tribute to the late Graham Brazier and the music he made with Hello Sailor. As Peter Urlich stated at the start of the evening, “We want to join everybody together and make this an unforgettable night.” Mission accomplished! The festivities began just after […]
Tuxedo – The Studio (Concert Review)
There was a touch of class on K Road Friday night as Tuxedo hit the Studio for the launch of Splore 2016. The side project of Grammy-nominated soul singer Mayer Hawthorne and Hip Hop producer Jake One, Tuxedo is the result of an exchange of 80’s boogie funk mixtapes in 2006. The two realised […]
Imagine Dragons – Vector Arena (Concert Review)
Imagine Dragons have been touring, almost continuously, for nearly seven years, Dan Reynolds told last night’s Vector Arena audience. They’ve only managed to record two albums in that time, but they have honed their live act into a tight, sharp and utterly superb performance. The evening began with a reasonable, but not especially inspiring, opening […]
A Place To Bury Strangers – Kings Arms (Concert Review)
Notoriously-loud Brooklyn-based trio A Place To Bury Strangers shook up Auckland’s Kings Arms with a mind bending set heavy on distortion and feedback…and fog. Monday night at the Kings Arms and the faithful have shown up early, eager to catch opening act, Thee Run Coves. The local rockers didn’t disappoint, getting the crowd worked up […]
Tift Merritt – The Tuning Fork (Concert Review)
Tift Merritt started her show a little shakily, with sound issues and a couple of false starts in the first few numbers. She handled them like a pro, however, quipping that the missing left channel in her keyboard in one song was akin to her dress which kept trying to fall off her left shoulder. […]
Holly Arrowsmith with Skyscraper Stan – The Tuning Fork (Concert Review)
A full bill at the Tuning Fork last night saw Tom Cunliffe, and then Skyscraper Stan, open for Holly Arrowsmith. Arrowsmith topped the bill, but she wasn’t the highlight of the show. Cunliffe kicked the evening off with a fairly rudimentary set of by-the-numbers folk numbers, one man and a guitar offering little new to […]
The Others Way Festival
Despite a cold, drizzling rain and an unexpected visit by the fire department, The Others Way Festival can definitely be chalked up as a success. Spread across seven venues along Auckland’s K-Road, it was easy to move around from show to show, the music was diverse and exciting and it sold out. I started my […]
Auckland International Cabaret Season: Opening Night (Concert Review)
The five-day Auckland International Cabaret Season kicked off last night with Tim Finn’s solo show, White Cloud and then a parade of seven female vocalists paying tribute to Billie Holiday inLady Sings The Blues. Tim Finn’s one man show…well, ok, two man…guitarist Brett Adams sat quietly in the corner playing along with Finn’s piano and […]
Jamie Lawson – The Tuning Fork (Concert Review)
Manchester singer-songwriter Jamie Lawson opened to an attentive full house in the Tuning Fork with All Is Beauty, the first of an uninterrupted string of catchy and often achingly beautiful acoustic pop songs, hitting his stride quickly and confidently. His lovelorn serenades are reminiscent of Damien Rice, although not as dark in content and tone. Indeed Lawson […]
Postmodern Jukebox – The Powerstation (Concert Review)
You wouldn’t have thought a jazz covers band would be on a 100-date tour, but thanks to YouTube, Postmodern Jukebox made their Southern Hemisphere debut at a packed Powerstation. PMJ is the brainchild of American musician Scott Bradlee, who takes pop music in a time machine back to likes of ragtime, vintage jazz, doo-wop and […]
SNFU – Whammy bar (Concert Review)
It’s nine o clock and there’s a pretty nice turn out at Whammy already, which is rad as Whammy gigs have a reputation for being late ones (although apparently they are trying to change that; so guys, turn up to gigs at Whammy on time!). There’s plenty of familiar faces, but the older faces, the […]
Hellyeah – The Studio (Concert Review)
Aww Hell No. I arrived at the Studio around 8PM for the Hellyeah gig; I was super looking forward to it, I’ve spoken to Chad Grey a few times and he is a really fuckin’ nice dude. First sign something was amiss was the chained and bolted front doors with a sign saying ‘Hellyeah […]
The Warratahs & Swamp Thing – Tuning Fork (Concert Review)
A bill can be confusing. I read The Tuning Fork’s billing for last night’s show to mean that Swamp Thing and The Warratahs would be playingtogether; oh, what a wonderful noise that would have been. Instead, as drummer Michael Barker explained to me after the show, the idea for last night’s concert came out of […]
Good Riddance – Galatos (Concert Review)
So last night was the night for pop punk legends Good Riddance, and first impression walking in to the always great but oft forgotten Galatos was ‘oh god, it’s a total Sausage Fest (A feeling that intensified throughout the night), but a pretty damn good turn out for a Thursday night in Auckland’. Doors were […]
Marc Ribot – The Tuning Fork (Concert Review)
Guitarist extraordinaire Marc Ribot performed a rare solo acoustic show at Auckland’s Tuning Fork. It was a showcase of intense musicianship that left the assembled fans spellbound, despite the fact that there was very little personal interplay between Ribot and his audience. This was very much a case of an artist letting his music do […]
Lydia Lunch & Retrovirus – The Kings Arms (Concert Review)
Along with her band Retrovirus, Lydia Lunch brought plenty of attitude to The Kings Arms and a performance to justify that attitude. It was, despite the weather, one of the hottest shows of the year…noisy, confrontational, emotional and powerful…the way rock & roll is meant to be. For a brief time it felt like the […]
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Powerstation (Concert Review)
If we’re being charitable, we’ll write off the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s show at Auckland’s Powerstation to the fact that the show had been postponed from last Friday night due to an illness in the band. The rescheduling, we’ll allow, can account for the rather disappointing turnout at Wednesday’s show; the illness could explain the […]
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis The Powerstation (Concert Review)
It’s been a lean few weeks for live music…thankfully, the film festival is taking up the slack…so that made the anticipation of seeing Camden siblings Kitty, Daisy & Lewis even greater. The trio have performed there before…Kitty celebrated her 18th birthday there in 2011. This time is was Lewis’ turn to blow out the candles […]
Mimsy Cable – Wine Cellar (Concert Review)
An early Sunday show often has a different mood about it, especially for a more intimate seated gig at the Wine Cellar. Tonight is also special as it’s Mimsy Cable’s first show in four years. She’d been working up to releasing her debut EP, The Coral Reef, for that long, so it felt like […]
Johnny Marr – Powerstation (Concert Review)
By the time Johnny Marr finished playing How Soon Is Now, the closing song of his main set at The Powerstation tonight, he surely knew that he had played a triumphant show. From the moment he strutted and swaggered onto the tiny stage, looking somewhere between Ron Wood and Liam Gallagher gone mod and joined […]