The music did the talking last night at the Kings Arms as Mono played a blinding set proving that you don’t need a vocalist to tell a story when it comes to music. Before the Japanese quartet took the stage, a couple of Auckland’s finest got things started. Unfortunately I missed Greenfog’s set, but arrived […]
When Josh Tillman last performed in Auckland, he was keeping the beat for Fleet Foxes at the Town Hall. But that was almost four years ago. Since then, he has come out from behind the drum kit and taken on the alter-ego of Father John Misty, a complex songwriter and an explosive performer. Those […]
When you’re a blues singer you pretty much have two options when you start a song, either, “woke up this mornin’” or, “well, well, well”. Australian blues man Ash Grunwald opted for the latter as he began his set at Auckland’s Back Beat Bar. The attending crowd was small, but they were treated to a […]
Chris Cornell opened a three-day, sold-out stand at Auckland’s ASB Theatre with a stunning 27-song set that found him picking out gems from not only his solo catalogue, but from his days with Soundgarden, Audioslave and Temple Of The Dog, plus a handful of well-chosen covers. This was my first time seeing Chris Cornell as […]
Weather-wise, it could have been worse. An hour after Mt Smart Stadium emptied, the Auckland skies were crackling with thunder and lightning and the rain was coming down in buckets. So, while it was wet and windy during Fleetwood Mac’s Saturday night show, it was certainly tolerable. Still it’s a tribute to the band and […]
Better known overseas than in their native New Zealand, Wellington’s French For Rabbits kicked off their NZ tour with a small, but perfectly-formed set of dream-pop gems at Auckland’s Tuning Fork. French For Rabbits is the vehicle for singer/songwriter Brooke Singer, who has just returned from a solo tour of Europe and is back […]
It may have been Friday the 13th, but it was a lucky night for Auckland music fans as Lisa Crawley brought her Up In The Air EP release tour to town. This would be the first show on the tour to feature Lisa with the backing of her three-piece band, including bass player Cass […]
Anyone who has seen the 2004 documentary Dig! knows that anything can happen at a Brian Jonestown Massacre show. Fortunately there were no intra-band fisticuffs or altercations with the audience. But there was a fair bit of drama as the band seemed to wrestle with their sound gear early on causing them to stop […]
I was born too late to see Irving Berlin or Cole Porter or Duke Ellington or George Gershwin perform their own songs, but last night I was fortunate enough to witness another of the great American composers play and sing his own songs. And if you don’t believe Burt Bacharach’s name belongs alongside those […]
Timing is everything. Fortunately Courtney Barnett’s show at the St James ended with just enough time to make it up Queen Street to catch Sunken Seas at the Wine Cellar. The two acts made for a thrilling double bill on this Friday night in Auckland. Sunken Seas started out from Wellington, but front man […]
