15/01/2026

Viagra Boys – The Powerstation: January 14, 2026 (13th Floor Concert Review)

In 2015 a band was born. Five Swedes walked into a karaoke bar and a yank was singing a Mariah Carey song. True story! Finally Aotearoa, well Tamaki Makaurau got a Viagra Boys show (two in the end)…a chance to see in the flesh this irreverent post-punk phenomena.

With four albums under their belt (since 2018) and a healthy sense of self-satire, Viagra Boys are a hot ticket, with both shows sold out well in advance. Their 2025 album – viagr aboys saw the band continuing to disquisition and strafe authoritarian capitalism, all the while adding to, and renewing their genre-contorting form of punk surrealism.

Mini Skirt
Four Byron Bay boys, Mini Skirt trade in Aussie pub-punk rock, though a dose of garage has crept in on their latest album All That We Know. Like Viagra Boys, tonight was also their Aotearoa debut, and I was expecting them to psych the room up—maybe even spark a mosh.

Like the split EP buddies, and frequent visitors to Aotearoa C.O.F.F.I.N., Mini Skirt draw on the great Aussie tradition, their whakapa drawing on luminaries like Radio Birdman, Cosmic Psychos, and recent darlings Amyl & The Sniffers.

Tonight, on stage Mini Skirt have a no nonsense approach, and are onstage earlier than expected, the band are churning out their frustrations with the idyllic Australian lifestyle. It’s four on the floor in your face punk rock, the singer wrapped in his mic lead, contouring and writhing the words out, as his band mates are unrelenting in their given tasks.

Playing a range of songs, that showcase their roots, and ability to grind out a groove, Mini Skirt gathered the crowd to the stage front, infecting and impressing many, they in fact achieved what I hoped – psyching the room, and as when they had given their all, used up their seconds on stage, they left to noise, having made their mark.

Viagra Boys
Cone on head (like the figure off the cover off viagr aboys) frontman Sebastian Murphy takes the lead, as the band kick off with Man Made of Meat, and the crammed masses in the Powerstation erupted in joy. Murphy, is topless, in trackies, festooned in tattoos, beer bodied, and already doing a little dance. They juxtapose immediately; immediately launching into Slow Learner from their debut album, 2018’s Street Worms. The night has been set up, the musical narrative in play.

Murphy is a jumble of tummler and provocateur tonight, he later announces he’s been in New Zealand for a week already, visiting and experiencing, he’s generous about his interactions with the locals. Already, the bands performance is impressive, Henrik “Benke” Höckert bass playing is a sonic driver of the groove already dominating the room, whilst the Saxophone, flute (and later bongos) add lavishness to the songs, the shorty shorts that Oskar Carls (saxophone, flute & guitar) is sporting, are a sight…, as he sways to the groove.

It’s apparent as they charge through their first stanza of songs, that the album viagr aboys is dominating, its genre bending blend of punk, art and grooviness are in tune with the crowd desires, as crowd sing-a-long is a constant feature of the night. Even during technical issues, Murphy manages to adlib a failing tale of rafts and balsa wood to excuse the six years it has taken for Viagra Boys to make it to Aotearoa. All is forgiven as I N33d You is given an extended segment, an opportunity for Murphy to get some serious Dad Dancing in, meanwhile it’s the audience’s turn during Ain’t No Thief.

Interlude, a rest break for the band, perhaps, many in the crowd use it to run for the bar, bogs or a better spot.

Pyramid of Health is followed by Murphy sharing his worldview (one that his band members seem to endorse) Fans of Viagra Boys will know the band cut no slack to adherents of authoritarianism and bigotry, as Murphy and mates call/chant for a free, Gaza, Ukraine, Iran and liberation of a third-world America. It’s received well. Murphy, politely, suggests dissenters quietly exit the room. Troglodyte (from 2022 Cave World) follows, perhaps reinforcing the group’s stance, with its wawa guitar intro and quirky beat, it is being driven by Elias Jungqvist as he manipulates his keyboards (and bongos), escalating and adding electronic richness, keeping the crowd enraptured. Murphy forever the prankster threatens to sing only sad songs for the rest of the night, an improv, adlib song with Jungqvist joining in, amused, with its narrative of hooking up, performance issues, and a morning dinner date. He truly loves to fuck with people.

Toward the end, as the rhythm section kept the groove ongoing, as Murphy continued with his command of the ship, beer-spouting, adlibbing and ad-grooving. There is a gentler moment as Medicine for Horses features, it has a beauty, and shows off the wide skillset of the band, and Murphy’s ability to almost croon (it’s only interrupted where I am by idiots going yeah nah in a trockular aussie manner). Sports returns the room to the sweaty teeming chaos of earlier times, meanwhile last off the block, Research Chemicals (from 2010’s Consistency of Energy) receives the jamming experience, it’s straight ahead punkish driven manner is enhanced by a bongos and sax interpart lead by Carls and Jungqvist, over the addictive guitar, bass and drums driven beat.

The three song encore is cut to one The Bog Body, even to Murphy’s surprise onstage. And after the group bow, it’s a wrap. The word on the street, from mouths of masses is aroha for a titular night. Viagra Boys came and conquered, in tandem there was astonishment at how good the room sounded (big ups to the sound crew- boom). A friend’s parting words described the night as The Stooges meet Butthole Surfers and hang with the Happy Mondays, there is more to it, but you may get the gist.