Past tours
Featured
The amazing Cate Le Bon explored New Zealand with her fab bandmate JT - a five-stop piano tour of her beloved songs, enchanting and mesmerising audiences in Dunedin, Oamaru, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. Fans drove from Dunedin to Oamaru, with some continuing the tour in Auckland. So good!
As with any tour, highlights were hearing such great composition and musicianship every night, and as with any New Zealand tour, being able to tour guide to incredible and iconic NZ sights.
Although born on Waiheke, Internationally celebrated musician Estère performed her first show on the island at Ostend War Memorial Hall on Saturday the 8th of December. Bringing her unique blend of melody, rhythm, samples and loops, Estère will arrive on the island fresh from her second European festival tour, this year. Estère's rich elastic voice and punchy melodies ride atop thick bass and weighty drums, textured with organic acoustic samples and electronic pulses. She calls her music Electric Blue Witch Hop, defying genre, seamlessly blending together soul and indie, hip hop and jazz, her musical layers shuffling between pop sensibility and African beats. Estère was fittingly called on to open for Grace Jones, John Cale and Erykah Badu, holding her own and impressing audiences at every turn.
My Design On Other's Lives is “...a unique collection of genres, sounds and ideas and is something unlike anything I've heard out of New Zealand - or anywhere, for that matter. It is singularly Estère, and a treat to explore.” - New Zealand Herald, 18 May, 2018
Bic and I had a lot of hurried and pressured fun and amusement, working our collective asses off for the 20th Anniversary of the release of her many, many times platinum release, Drive.
Bic chose amazing female performers to accompany her onstage during her two-set performance, which also featured Shayne Carter, and her backing band of Cass Basil, Tom Healy and Kody Neilson. Bic’s performance at The Civic Theatre was welcomed by a powhiri, a powerful opening at Auckland’s loveliest venue, and a tribute to such a talented and respected music icon.
After announcing her tour on The Project, Bic appeard on the cover of M2 Woman, across all relevant local print media and featured on almost all local radio waves and many national television programmes. As she deserves to be, Bic was omnipresent.
Future Islands arrived in New Zealand at the end of a grueling, almost nine constant months of touring, yet some amazing things happened: A super delicious and generous meal at the home of Wellington’s biggest fan, the owner of chocolatier Baron Hasselhoff’s; Against all odds, Sam came alive on San Fran’s intimate Wellington stage for two sold-out nights in a row; Two of the touring party ran a half marathon; Their sold-out Powerstation show left the masses a jubilant, quivering mess, including our then-new Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.
Orchestra of Spheres are unlike any other band, which most bands can’t honestly say. I mean, they might say it, but it’s just not true. Ethnomusicology meets outerspace, dancebeats meet psychedlia and prog. They have collectively exploded the minds of many international bands and confounded the brains of more Americans than I care to count.
They are exhilarating and bizarre, keeping people riveted with their mix of homemade instruments and unique stage presence.
The Residents for 2018? Beyond comparison to something even such as this? Whatever it is, Spheres are a refreshing and needed burst of genre-blending experimentation.
Annabel Alpers’ psychedelic space pop compositions are harmonic vocal symphonies. capturing the ears of listeners across the planet, with multiple European and United States, New Zealand and Australia tours. She has kicked ass touring with Beach House, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Low, and The Magnetic Fields. Her music can be found on the highly-revered label, Drag City, out of Chicago; Mistletone, in Australia, and Particle Tracks in New Zealand. Bachelorette’s music has been used in film, television and advertising in all the above territories, with several renewals.
Currently Annabel is working on soundscapes as art/music installation, soon to be premiered in New Zealand.
March 2003 was a busy month for bands! Trans Am toured Auckland and Wellington with the Fucking Champs, leaving waves of New Zealanders screaming for more of the Kiwi’s favourite Trans Am album, TA.
Trans Am was so psyched to be here that they threw the rental car keys into the bay of Opoutere from a trick swim trunk pocket and recorded their next album in Auckland.
The crowd was psyched to see Le Tigre at a tight Auckland date the day before they played their Big Day Out stadium show. There was madness at the front of stage, with people clawing through the cables - but too much! And one of the monitors became unplugged. The whole house pulled together to fix it as quickly as possible - go Kings Arms! People were brought together because of the great crumpled cable caper.
With guitar in full metal harmony, the Fucking Champs charmed New Zealand on their first Kiwi tour. The Champs are known to make people cry with their anthemic tunes and resolution, and their two shows here were no exception.
The Fucking Champs and Trans Am were an amazing tour to produce!!
Hamerkop is the project of Annabel Alpers, (Bachelorette) and Adam Cooke, where lush, harmonious space-pop meets field recordings from Baltimore and New Zealand. Their performance incorporates five-speaker surround sound: audiences become part of their live sonic installation. At their Auckland and Waiheke appearances, the emphasis on the visceral transcended audiences to another level of musical appreciation.
Annabel gained fame through heralded bedroom project Bachelorette, with four albums released on Drag City Records, repeated US and European tours, and music featured in movies, television and advertising.