Heading in to the venue, it was to be my first gig at Auckland's Galatos venue. Situated not too far away from the now-sold Kings Arms Tavern, and the currently for sale Wine Cellar and Whammy Bar, Galatos is in a prime position. Despite the limited lighting equipment on site, the venue has a capacity that shows its potential as a prime candidate for filling the void that the loss of these venues will create.

First and only support act were Seedy Jeezus, who journeyed from Melbourne, Australia. A three piece group consisting of Paul Crick on the bass, Mark Sibson on the drums, and Lex Waterreus on the guitar and vocals. With a style that oozes with a mix of grunge and classic heavy rock tones, they could easily be described as a modern day Black Sabbath. Despite incredible technical abilities, the mastery of their instruments is often hidden, masked under layers of distortions and effects, though they do break free of the mold on occasions, such as the instrumental track Chasing the Dragon's Tail. This track showcases their knowledge of the music and ability to create a plethora of musical genres and song styles, combining them in a fashion that creates a journey, that draws the crowd in close and leaves them mesmerized.

With Seedy Jeezus finishing their 7-song set, band equipment is switched over, and Head Like a Hole (HLAH) take to the stage. Dressed in what could almost be classed as fancy dress, they are clad in gear that would certainly not have looked out of place when the album 13 had been released 25 years ago. Rocking moustaches, leather pants, studded belts and face paint, the crowd surged to the front of the stage waiting for the first track to hit. 

Jumping straight into Hole, a mosh pit opens up in front of centre stage almost immediately. Surprising really, as the crowd has quite an age range, from the barely legal, to those well into the grey-haired years. But all ages were taking part in the creation of a circle pit that restarted during nearly every chorus throughout the remainder of the show. Moving onto the second track Life's a Joke it became apparent that HLAH were going to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of 13  not only by playing the entire album in their set, but by doing to in order. 

Each song led to an increase in energy and passion from the crowd as they pushed to get closer, and started to mosh more and more violently. Tracks such as Fish Across Face and Penut riled up the audience more and more, eventually resulting in the odd brawl that was swiftly stopped, and frowned upon by the band. As HLAH came to the end of the 13 album, security guards had moved up to the front in an effort to reduce the mess that the mosh pit had become, but to no avail, as the end of the 13 playlist marked the beginning of the remainder; and this included all the other hits that we have come to expect from the band. Tracks such as Wet Rubber, Glory Glory, and their cover of Springsteen's I'm on Fire were eaten up by the crowd, who showed little signs of tiring.

With a set that almost lasted two and a half hours, the highlight of the night certainly had to come from their performance of A Crying Shame, complete with the trumpet. A performance that even their encore of Hootenanny couldn't possibly compete with. High energy performance, that shows HLAH are far from being done.

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