Bic Runga – Te Paepae Theatre NZICC : March 27, 2026 (13th Floor Concert Review)
Bic Runga brought her Red Sunset Tour to Auckland’s Te Paepae Theatre at NZICC on Hobson Street..for many it was their first time at the new venue and the first time in a while hearing Bic perform live.
This was my second time at NZICC as I was in attendance last month when Six60 performed the opening concert there. The venue smelled new then, and it still did last night.
This time around, there was no standing area in front of the stage…it was all seated, which made sense for Bic’s audience, who like our featured performer, is middle-aged and happy to be seated.
Silicon
The opening act found Bic seated behind a drum kit as she tapped away…and sang a bit…while hubby Kody Nielson played keys and sang lead. The third musician on stage was bassist/keyboard player Cass Basil (also of Tiny Ruins).
I say “tapped” because, while Bic can certainly keep a beat (drums were her first instrument growing up), her drumming skills are rudimentary at best.
And, I’ve gotta say, I’m not a fan of Silicon’s overall all sound, with Kody’s highly-processed vocals more irritating than entertaining. Fortunately, they only played for 30 minutes, giving us plenty of time to acquire food and drinks before the main act.
Bic Runga
At approximately 8:40pm, the lights dimmed, the crowd went silent and Cass Basil and Kody Nielson returned to the stage along with keyboard player Carl Bennett and we heard the descending notes that make up, Glass Atrium, the brief instrumental that opens Bic’s new album, Red Sunset.
Now Kody is behind the drum kit, where he belongs, and Bic strides out in a flowing red gown, front and centre, where she belongs.
The crowd applauds, then goes quiet…very quiet…suddenly Kody pummels the bass drum and we’re off with Paris In The Rain.
Bic sounds like…Bic..although she’s a little deep in the mix for this first song. That situation is quickly rectified and the Te Paepae Theatre proved to sound as good as it smelled over the next hour.
“Hiya…thank you”, Bic says, strumming her guitar before setting the mood with a couple of classics…Precious Things and Get Some Sleep, both from 2002’s Beautiful Collision.
Bic makes a reference to the long gap between albums…”I was dead in the water at home”, she confessed after Bursting Through, “just navel gazing”.
Well, she and Kody were raising three children, so there was more than navel gazing going on.
“If its all right, I’d like to play two songs from the new record”, she continued.
In all, we got 8 new songs and they sounded fresh and vibrant. And the old songs went down like fine wine.
Highlights for me were the harmonica intro to Listening For The Weather, the lyrics to Birds struck a nerve and the cool jazz vibe of It’s Like Summertime.
Bic’s banter was brief and breezy with the “running gag” being about the potential title of the new album…Escape From Planet Earth? “nobody liked it”. And Ghost In Your Bed didn’t pass muster either.
So Red Sunset it is…a welcome return for one of this country’s finest singer-songwriters. Let’s hope the next album isn’t too far off.
Marty Duda
Photos: Ming Lyu
Bic Runga Setlist:
- Glass Atrium
- Paris In The Rain
- Precious Things
- Get Some Sleep
- It’s Like Summertime
- Escape From Planet Earth
- Birds
- Ghost In Your Bed
- Red Sunset
- Something Good
- Bursting Through
- Home Run
- Hey Little One
- Listening For The Weather
- Gravity
- Drive
- Sway
