Louis Baker - Gig Review: Small Hall Sessions w/ Louis Baker @ Tikokino Hall - 24/10/2024
26 Oct 2024 // review by Rob Harbers
Making his debut in the Small Halls milieu, Louis Baker entranced the audience at Tikokino hall with an intensely soulful performance, setting a perfect tone for Te-Matau-a-Maui’s extra-long weekend. With a paradoxical combination of strength and fragility, his performance drew them in, kept them engaged, and gave them many tales to tell to those who weren’t there.
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Gig Review: Ish Presents: All Folked Up @ St Matthews Hall, Hastings - 13/10/2024
16 Oct 2024 // review by Rob Harbers
On the final night of Fringe in the Stings’ brief champagne supernova, it was the turn of Ish to land their magic carpet ride back where it all began. Their journey started with an appearance at FITS and has since seen them invited to the top table, the Hawkes Bay Arts Festival itself, along the way.
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Mel Parsons - Gig Review: Small Hall Sessions w/ Mel Parsons @ Otane Town Hall, Otane - 09/10/2024
10 Oct 2024 // review by Rob Harbers
Maintaining an impressive fortnightly schedule after their winter hibernation, the Small Hall Sessions are this week playing host to Otautahi’s Mel Parsons. This marks her debut on the Small Halls circuit, and it’s in support of her recently released album Sabotage, these appearances being dates 15-18 of a wider national tour of 22 nights all up.
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Gig Review: Small Hall Sessions w/ Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders @ Te Awanga Hall, Te-Matau-a-Maui - 27/09/2024
28 Sep 2024 // review by Rob Harbers
The opening run of the Small Hall Sessions featured the pairing of Barry Saunders and Delaney Davidson. Now, nearly 3 and a half years and around 180 Sessions later, this remarkable duo has returned to stomp the boards of Hawkes Bay’s rural hubs.
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Black Comet - Gig Review: Black Comet @ Paisley Stage, Napier - 26/07/2024
02 Aug 2024 // review by Rob Harbers
Ahuriri’s Paisley Stage was the setting for the Looking for a New Planet tour appearance of Black Comet, Laughton Kora’s ensemble of funky rock monsters, and the Comet took in its trail a whole new body of fans! Introductory duties fell to Willsy and Friends, the elastic combo I’ve previously mentioned in these pages.
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Devilskin - Gig Review: Devilskin @ ToiToi Opera House, Hastings - 15/06/2024
18 Jun 2024 // review by Rob Harbers
On a chilly Te-Matau-A-Maui evening, Devilskin brought the warmth to a capacity crowd at Hastings’ ToiToi, with the help of a few friends. Probably the loudest the old girl’s been for some time, as they celebrated the 10th anniversary of the release of debut album We Rise.
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Tower Of Flints - Gig Review: Tower of Flints @ Paisley Stage, Napier - 4/05/2024
08 May 2024 // review by Rob Harbers
On a Saturday night with many entertainment options for the people of Te-Matau-A-Maui, a select audience was treated to a triple bill of quality artists at the sweet little spot that is the Paisley Stage.First up was Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Spinning Lights, making their East Coast debut.
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Ryan Fisherman - Album Review: Country EMO
13 Oct 2023 // review by Rob Harbers
When initially asked if I could do a review of this album, to be perfectly honest I’d never heard of Ryan Fisherman. But having had its silky charms beguiling my ears for the past few weeks, his is definitely a name I want to hear more from!
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Bazurka - Album Review: Novi Grad All Stars
06 Jul 2023 // review by Rob Harbers
Te-Whanganui-a-Tara’s Bazurka back up their cool-as-fuck name with a refreshingly distinct sound, one that brings the spirit of the Balkans alive in contemporary Aotearoa.Their new album, Novi Grad All Stars, opens with a flourish of brass, leading in to a delicate violin threnody, which then segues into a syncopated groove, in which all the players are given their opportunity to shine.
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Space Waltz - Album Review: Victory
13 Jun 2023 // review by Rob Harbers
Way back in New Zealand’s entertainment history, as hard as it may be to believe, long before the days of streaming, if you wanted to watch TV you had one choice. State broadcasting provided all content, across a single channel.
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Stretch - Gig Review: Stretch @ Common Room, Hastings - 27/04/2022
28 Apr 2023 // review by Rob Harbers
In honour of his turangawaewae, Stretch is playing 3 nights running across the battered, but resolute, province of Hawkes Bay, from Napier in the north to the very southern tip, his original hometown of Dannevirke. This set of shows carries the moniker of 'My Heart, My Home' - a reflection of their ethos, which is to seek to bring a small degree of healing to this traumatised area.
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