21/02/2026

Push Push – Double Whammy: February 20, 2026 (13th Floor Concert Review)

Push Push played to a packed Double Whammy crowd last night for the second outing of their four-show tour of the Upper North Island, celebrating 35 years of their first number one hit Trippin’.

Last night felt like a reunion, not only for the band who recently released a five-track EP after a hiatus, but also for the crowd. There, in Double Whammy, all of the concert-goers had come for the same thing, for a hit of nostalgia and seeing familiar faces, of experiencing life as it used to be, preserved within those four walls for a night of intoxicating lights and sound and sweat.

New Zealand of the 90s frozen in time and released into the venue – band T-Shirts, smells, the soft haze of someone’s weed – and all.

Snuffer

Snuffer, a newly formed three-piece rock band fronted by well-known New Zealand musician Darryn Harkness, played their third gig as a group to the Double Whammy crowd.

Their set began with pulsating drums, bass and guitar. Within seconds, the drummer dropped one of his drumsticks, sharing a laugh in the sort of intimate moment that only comes from live music with the guitarist and frontman as he picked it up. Heavy guitar launched the eight-song set with Nine & One, closely followed by You Are My Shoes with an energetic distorted sound.

Harkness was an enigmatic and contagious presence on the stage, conducting the band using just his body as his baton. The frontman showed his seasoned rock performance prowess with the stage presence of a prowling feline, eyes raking the audience in a challenge as he sang through Something I Can. The guitarist and bassist shared a moment, playing face-to-face with the necks of their instrument framing an X between them, a musical embrace. Four drum beats and a yelled “hey!” into the mic kicked into On My Way, which flowed through tempo changes and brought the audience along on the journey, grooving their way into Gust.

All three musicians were grinning on stage, having a blast, enjoying being together making music in front of the crowd. It reminded me of what live music should be – gritty, fun, playful, never perfect – the musicians wrapped up in the joyful bliss as much as the crowd. They rounded out their set with Uninvited Guest and Making Me Lose My Mind, all three band members keeping up the heightened energy until their last chord rang out across the cavernous underground space of Double Whammy.

Push Push

Push Push erupted into their set with the tension-building Under The Eye from their recently released EP The Truth, with a tandem riff between duo guitarist Shayne Silver and Bassist Steve Abplanalp. Then drummer Scott Cortese led the rest of the band to swell as one.

They moved into popular tunes Beating Up Bullfrogs and What My Baby Likes. The crowd approved, singing along and bouncing to the beat of the music with collective focus towards the stage. Vocalist Mikey Havoc took the microphone off the stand and sang directly to the front row, deep in his full rocker act that has been carefully crafted over many years to give an effortless stage presence and performance.

Doosh slinked into the crowd with softer vocals, before exploding into a full-band rock sound. Wolf whistles from the crowd heralded the arrival of Kiss This, a pulsating drum-heavy track from the band’s first album. The frontman explained that the next song was for the night workers before playing Sleep In The Morning that had a beautiful layered three-part vocal harmony that sat above the instruments. Skin slowed down the groove of the room with more mellow sections and evoked the same appreciation from the audience.

As the last note of The Truth hung suspended in the air, the singer hugged lead guitarist Andy Kane. He urged the crowd to turn and “hug someone right now everybody.” The love was spread outwards from the stage into the audience as people obeyed, turning to those around them, whether they knew them or not, and embraced.

Just as bodies were being untangled, the singer yelled the first line of Talk2me and the band burst into a layered, full sound. The band played a few more newer tunes, before leaning right into the nostalgia that everyone had been waiting for.

Do Ya Love Me? ripped through the room, the sing-a-long so loud now that I almost couldn’t hear the band, which was a feat since I could feel their music vibrating through every centimetre of my flesh. The Guns N’ Roses style vocals soared above the room, mixing with the vape haze, and sliding into the final song of their set and their most famous: Trippin’. It’s what drew the fans to the gig and it provided an electric shock to the room, renergising it with movement and volume. The frontman turned his phone camera towards the audience, filming them singing the chorus. You could see the emotion on the performers’ faces. The adrenaline that came from a crowd enthusiastically singing along to a song they released 35 years ago.

The band exited momentarily then leaped back out moments later to the calls of “one more song!” and “encore!” to play two more of their early hits Two Times and I Love My Leather Jacket. Everyone in the space surrendered to the retrospective rock that had been served to them on a platter all night. The heat waves coming off the band were almost visible, the sweat dripping from their hair down their faces, as the vocalist took an offered vape from the audience and huffed on it, puffing the vapour into the crowd to united cheers.

Each band member had their final moment in the spotlight in the encore, showing off their years of dedication to their craft and the well-oiled showmanship machine that they’d just proved doesn’t rust with time. It felt like the end of a jam session, a reunion between friends who’ve known each other for years, rocking out, experiencing that shared ‘joy de vivre’ we all crave, and inviting their fans to join them.

E.J. Rzepecky

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