The hellions that are Guitar Wolf brought their Jet Rock n Roll to Waiheke Island just for St Patricks Day, their last club show in a lengthy Aotearoa tour. Resplendent in a pure black kind of way, the band brought potentially the highest energy show that the Artworks Theatre stage has ever seen, their stage diving and crowd surfing making absolutely everyone psyched that they came to the show. The most hilarious part revolves around Seiji’s sunglasses: They’re so dark that he can’t see the crowd, so he needs the house lights up. House lights vs stage lights confusion/battle ensued for about half the show, but they stayed on. So much good shtick 30 years on!

Photo: Brenna Gotje

Shonen Knife came to Aotearoa New Zealand for a four-date tour in March, 2024. After showing them the best sights on Waiheke Island, they played to an ecstatic audience of locals, after legendary openers Teen Wolf. The next date was San Fran, in Wellington, with up-and-comers Sure Boy, then a drive to Raglan. Realising that they had yet to see kiwi or tuatara, we stopped en route in Otorohanga and were shocked to see fine specimens of both creatures! A wild Raglan show with Auckland-based punk rock band Cindy followed. Auckland’s Whammy Bar was the last stop on this intrepid tour, with Cootie Cuties warming the punkrock hearts of the sold-out show, which ended in 180 people singing “On Top of the World” in unison, hands in the air and a fan glow in their eyes. What an amazing band of stellar people! X

OFF! A blistering, pounding and powerful set from this quad of stalwart musos took Wellington’s Meow, Raglan’s Yot Club and Auckland’s Whammy into an unforgettable hardcore zone. Their tour was swift and unfortunately did not involve much sightseeing in Tāmaki Makaurau; Overseen by Susie Says! and promoted by Susie Says! In Auckland, the other shows were promoted by Meow and Yot Club. Thanks to Keith Morris for such a lovely follow-up thank you/appreciation package :) A rare old-school acknowledgement.

What more can be said about Peaches? I had the honour of hosting her tour and her cast of characters for three tremendous shows in Auckland and Wellington. Dancing, costume changes, walking on the audience, drum solo, participatory moments…It’s all there. A masterclass in performance. We went for a walk to a waterfall and swam in the sea, too.

It turned out that Cate Lon Bon’s tours basically bookended Covid. Cate was the first artist to be able to tour Aotearoa after Covid venue restrictions lifted, in June 2022. It was thrilling, and people packed the two venues she played to witness her incredible magnetism yet again. Her full fab band were a treat to host.