Bret McKenzie

Who he? Once a member of Flight Of The Conchords, and former band member of The Black Seeds, Bret has been a New Zealand icon since, like, ages ago. He’s won an Oscar for Best Original Song, and is generally a good bloke. He’s playing some solo shows in support of his new album, Freak Out City, with two shows in Wellington, his home town, in a converted Salvation Army Citadel turned gig venue, Meow Nui. What’s not to like? 

We were originally planning to go for dinner at Charley Noble, a venue I regularly slag off to visitors and locals alike. I used to go there for lunch when I worked at ANZ and have always been unimpressed by the place. And yet…it keeps being mentioned as a Top 10 place to go in Wellington, and Second Cousin Lauren has recently started working there, so I thought we’d give it another try.  But a quick look at the map said otherwise – I’d thought the concert venue was much closer. Another time, perhaps. We ended up in what is becoming a regular haunt, Cuba Street Tavern. They were quite busy, and they’ve changed up the format a little since we were last there – fewer sharing plates, and more main courses. Nevertheless, we made our selection (despite the absence of oysters – they’d run out), and waited. And waited. Eventually, after prompting the waiter, they brought all the food out at once. Previously they’d been of the type to bring things out as they were prepared. The problem this time round was that the chicken skewers were cold. I told the waiter, who told the chef, who (a) served us some hot ones and (b) removed them from the bill. So a slight blot on their copybook there.

We walked around the corner to Meow Nui, where there was a queue. I thought doors opened at 7:00pm, but was clearly misled in this regard. We found some good seats, and then visited the bar for a beer whilst waiting. Around 8:00pm, Bret wanders onto the stage, says “hi”, and starts playing his guitar. A minute later a couple of backing singers wandered on and started giving backing vocals. Then a drummer and a bass player, followed by keyboardist, brass section (sax and trombone), and an electric guitarist, as the song reached its crescendo and everyone was playing. So in the end there were nine of them in the band including Bret. Quite an ensemble!

He played a number of songs old and new, but it was the banter in between that really marked out the gig. He was a member of a comedy ensemble, and this shows. He told us about how they’d (by which he means, he’d) forgotten to bring any merch to one of their shows in the US, so instead started handing out Whittaker’s chocolate bars for the audience to break a piece off and pass around. This then became a thing, and they had to ask everyone coming from New Zealand to bring some Whittaker’s chocolate for them at each gig. They did the same in Australia, but, as he explained, the Aussies weren’t as stoked by this because you can actually get Whittaker’s in Australia, apparently. Nevertheless they continued to do it in New Zealand, and, after hearing about this from the previous night, were stunned when Tiffany from Whittaker’s showed up with a whole bagful of chocolate for the second Wellington show (i.e. the one we were at). So we enjoyed our Whittaker’s chocolate during the show.

If you’re one of my international readers and have never tried Whittaker’s chocolate, try to get hold of some…it’s bloody good!

He also got a volunteer from the audience to help him out with one of his songs. Turned out he’d recruited a Wellington actor (who may have positioned himself deliberately), Tiaki Sharp, so he was able to give a lot of acting ability to his part.

A little later, Bret invited another member of the audience to share a story so he could make up a song on the spot. Owen (I think) provided a tale of heartbreak from his first weeks at university, when he broke up with his girlfriend Sharone, and to ease the pain bought her some mint slice biscuits and a bunch of flowers. Bret wove this into a song: “Sharone, we should’ve broke up by phone” and “mint slices, to ease your emotional crisis” featured in it.

He also played his Oscar-winning song, complete with voices: Man Or Muppet?, and another song in which he parodied Morrissey, Everyone Is Horrid Except Me (and Possibly You), which has, apparently, earned him the lasting enmity of Steven Patrick. He didn’t give the impression that he was bothered by this.

And then – surprise! – Jemaine Clement appeared on stage, and they reprised one of the Flight Of The Conchords songs together: The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room).

They left the stage but were back in what seemed microseconds to perform a two-song encore, before the lights came up. That set list in full can be found here.

Right, I’ve ordered the new album, should be here in a couple of days.

 

More Cricket

The Black Caps series against South Africa went down to the wire with the fifth match in Christchurch, where the South Africans put on a display of batting, reaching a total of 187. Not an impossible task, but they were able to contain the New Zealand batters. Wickets fell regularly and no-one was able to get a real total going. Eventually they achieved 154 in response. South Africa won the match by 33 runs, and the series 3-2. 

But that’s not what we want to see! The White Ferns had already wrapped up their series 3-1 in Wellington, and performed another demolition, setting a total of 194 and then bowling the South Africans out for 109, a 92 run margin of victory, to give a 4-1 series score.

They then moved onto the longer 50 over format a few days later, again in Christchurch, where South Africa exacted their revenge. The White Ferns batted first, and set, by their standards, a modest total of 268 for their opponents to hit. They made a good start with a wicket in the first over, and both openers out for 30, but South Africa then put on 122 runs for the third wicket. The Ferns never managed to slow them down, and despite losing wickets regularly, they had a relatively easy path, until the pre-penultimate over: needing 24 off the last three overs, they scored just two, and lost a wicket. Suddenly, the equation is 22 from 2 overs. They scored 8 in the 49^th over, leaving 14 from the last over. A couple of singles and a six , then a couple of dot balls, left South Africa needing a six off the last ball. There was a long talk out in the middle between Suzie Bates and her captain, Melie Kerr. Unfortunately she bowled a sitter which Reyneke slogged for the required six. South Africa won, by two wickets, off the final ball.

On to Wellington for the final two matches of the series, and the South Africans have their tails up. It was an absolutely stunning day, with early cloud clearing to perfect blue skies all round. There was a nagging southerly breeze so it was a good job we were inside, in the Long Room.

This time, wickets didn’t fall. Although they lost their opener, Tazmin Brits, for 9, the second wicket partnership between opener and captain Laura Woolvardt and Anneke Bosch took them to 167/2, and even after that partnerships continued, with South Africa finally setting a total of 346/6. This was not helped by at least six – SIX! – chances going down. OK, some of them were hard chances, but in many cases the ball bounced out of the fingers. Coach Rory recommends some catching practice before the final match!

South Africa had set the White Ferns a mountain to climb: the biggest run chase in Women’s cricket. The previous most successful was India’s chasing down of 339 against Australia in 2025. A massive run rate of almost seven an over was required. The loss of Suzie Bates early put them at 21/1, and onto the pitch walks Melie Kerr.

What happened next was just…staggering. First, a 52 run partnership before Georgia Plimmer was out for 23, and then, having lost Green and Halliday for relatively low totals, put on a 120 run partnership with Izzy Gaze for the 5^th wicket. Gaze was striking the ball well, making 68 off 49 balls. The total was now 250/5, with 12 overs remaining. Still quite a total to reach, at 8 runs per over. But this is Melie Kerr we’re talking about, and she continued to build partnerships – 40 with Izzy Sharp and 39 with sister Jess Kerr. They needed 18 runs off the last two overs. They took six from the 49^th, and were left needing 12 off the final. Two fours off the first two balls brought it within reach – just three needed off the last four. A scampered two left the scores tied with three to go. No messing, Melie Kerr hit it for four, to win the match and level the series 1-1, with two balls in hand. Kerr finished on 179 not out, having scored over half the runs required herself.  

After the match, the accolades flowed, as all the records achieved were talked over. Amazingly, this isn’t even Melie Kerr’s highest score in an ODI! She achieved 232 not out against minnows Ireland in 2018 – but this is against one of the world’s top teams. It’s the highest successful run chase in women’s cricket. Ever.

The next match, the decider, is again in Wellington, on Saturday. We’ll be going along, and expecting fireworks!

Cricket At The Hnry

Wellington’s stadium has gone through several iterations as name sponsors have changed. It started out as Westpac Stadium, then changed to Sky. The latest sponsor is Hnry, a New Zealand tax accounting company. So we now have the Hnry Stadium. Pronounced Hnry.

Whilst international test cricket is played at the Basin Reserve, Twenty20 and ODIs are increasing played at the Hnry, as they have floodlighting for day/night matches. This was the third match in a five match T20 series against South Africa. Both men’s and women’s teams are playing, leading to an eight-hour festival of cricket. 

This match is included in our Gold membership of Cricket Wellington, so we could access the member’s lounge. This is right under the scoreboard, which makes tracking what’s going on a little harder for us, as the screen at the other end of the ground is used largely for advertising, and only rarely do they update the scores there. Indoors, however, they also have several tv screens so we can keep up with the match. Also handy for the action replays!

The White Ferns were up first, starting at 2:45. We’d got there in plenty of time, and ensconced ourselves by the window. The Ferns are 2-1 up in the series, with a WLW record behind them. South Africa won the toss, decided to bat, and amassed a reasonable score of 159, setting the Ferns their highest chase total at home. Losing opener Gaze in the second over didn’t help, and then Plimmer fell for 29 after keeping captain Melie Kerr company for a bit. It was the partnerships of Kerr/Devine and Devine/Halliday that really sealed the deal, and by the time Devine was out for 64 they needed just another 11 runs from 17 balls, which they achieved with nine balls to spare. This sealed the series win 3-1, with one more match to play in Christchurch.

There was a bit of a wait for the men’s game, as it is timed to be shown after the TV News has finished at 7:00pm. We availed ourselves of dinner from the member’s lounge catering…not brilliant.

The Black Caps are also 2-1 up on the series, having lost the first game but absolutely pantsing the Proteas with bat and ball in the next two games – bowling them out for 107 after setting a target of 175 in the second match, and then restricting them to 139/9 in the third – a total they saw off in less than 17 overs. There were line-up changes for this match, bringing in some newer players, and also losing Tom Latham to injury. South Africa won the toss and decided to bat, setting a target of an achievable 165 for the Black Caps.

Unfortunately, the Black Caps failed to dazzle with the bat. No-one really got going and every time they seemed to get settled, another wicket fell. Neesham, in particular, who should have held the lower order together, was found wanting. Having skied the ball twice and been dropped twice in succession, what does he do? Hits it up again, and third time was a charm…caught for 6. Too much was being asked of the rest of the lower order, and South Africa eventually wrapped it up for 145, winning by 19 runs.

This leaves the men’s series tied at 2-2, with the final match on Wednesday in Christchurch. Should be a nailbiter!

 

The Rocky Horror Show

As the nights are starting to cool down and close in, the indoor entertainment scene in Wellington starts to liven up. Now showing at St James Theatre is a new production of The Rocky Horror Show. Nicola claims never to have seen the film all the way through, so this was a no-brainer.

First though…dinner, and time for another visit to perennial faves, Loggy B’s (Logan Brown to you). Last time we were there we had the leisurely Taste Of Logan Brown degustation menu, but this time we needed a quicker meal so were on the standard 3-course deal – still a snip at $95 each.  

It’s a short walk down the road and round the corner to St James Theatre, and we were ensconced in plenty of time for the show to begin. You know how it goes, right? Brad and Janet get stranded on the road and go to the local castle (!?) for help – there to be enmeshed in the goings-on at the castle, orchestrated by Frank N Furter, a transvestite from Transylvania, in the galaxy Transexual; ably assisted by RiffRaff, Magenta and Columbia. They did The Time Warp, Sweet Transexual, Dammit Janet and all the other songs. A lot of people had made the effort to dress up for the occasion, but I think we were channelling our inner Janet and Brad. All jolly good fun, catch it if you can!

 

Hutt Sounds 2026

Where does the time go?

Yes, well, I’ve been busy, and haven’t had time to blog for a while. I’ll try to fill in the gaps as best I can.

We booked early for Hutt Sounds again this year…almost as soon as they announced who the line-up would be. Yes, it’s possible to buy “early bird” tickets blind, without knowing who you’re going to see, but I was cautious. When they announced the line-up for the related Selwyn Sounds I was a little disheartened, as their headliner was Ronan Keating, who I have no particular desire to see. In past years, Selwyn, Auckland and Hutt have all had the same line-up…but this year, they’ve varied it, and the headliner is Tony Hadley, formerly of Spandau Ballet. Not a Keating to be seen! I booked the tickets.

We drove up to Upper Hutt early, with a plan to secure parking and go and see an exhibition of Japanese art at Whirinaki Whare Taonga beforehand. There was lots to admire, but I particularly liked this piece:

We lunched at the adjoining Dough Bakery café, then walked the short walk to Brewtown. Drizzle had set in in the morning, but we had rain gear with us and the forecast was for the weather to clear in the afternoon.

We needn’t have worried. This year, they’ve changed the format. Whereas in previous years we’ve taken our chances and sat outside in an open field, this year they’ve scaled it down somewhat and the whole of the audience is in the covered area – which previously had housed the food trucks. I don’t know why this was – maybe residents complaining about congestion? They hold several events at Brewtown, and I can see why it might be annoying if you live there; it’s right in a residential area.

We found a good spot, and settled in for the first act: Jan Hellriegel, a kiwi singer of the late 80s/early 90s. Never heard of her. She sang some songs, some with guitar, some with piano. Nothing about them inspired me to go out and investigate any further.

Next act: someone I’ve heard of! And way down the order in terms of who I know, but there are reasons for this; Lloyd Cole, Commotionless (as he has been for some time) playing a guitar set of some of his better-known songs for half an hour or so.

The next band out of the box were Mi-Sex, another Kiwi ensemble of the 80s. Lead singer Steve Gilpin died in a car crash in 1992, but has been replaced by Steve Balbi, an Australian musician (formerly of Noiseworks) since the band reformed in 2011. They released four albums in the 80s, and it seems a lot of people knew their work – it being a kiwi crowd, and Mi-sex were originally from Wellington. They provided a lot more energy than the two opening acts, and the crowd really started to get going. I know one song – Computer Games, which is on a compilation CD (yes, I still have CDs!) from the 80s. It was, I think, their biggest hit, so they naturally saved it to the end. Anyway, I have been inspired to investigate further and am awaiting the arrival of a greatest hits CD in the post (yes, I still have post!)

They were followed by another hi-energy group, Fun Lovin’ Criminals. They’re of a slightly later era, 90s rap-rock. They’re known for two major hits, The Fun-Lovin’ Criminal, which they opened with, and Scooby Snacks, noted for its frequent sampling of Quentin Tarantino movie dialogue – so much so that he sued, and won, a share of the royalties. They have, apparently, been successful with some other songs as well, and they provided an entertaining 50 minute set, finishing up with the aforementioned Scooby Snacks.

The next band on were When The Cat's Away, a successful (in New Zealand) girl band, again from the late 80s/early 90s, who were known for their cover versions of relatively unknown songs. Included in their set was Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy, to which they failed to do justice. I hadn’t heard any of their other songs, so took the opportunity to visit the food trucks at this point. Apparently, though, some people were here specifically for them, as when they finished their set, quite a few packed up and left!

And now, the moment we’ve been waiting for, the headline act! Tony Hadley took to the stage, and opened with…a Nina Simone number, Feeling Good. Nice song, but we’re here for the Spandau Ballet stuff, Tony! Fortunately he got on with it, and took us into To Cut A Long Story Short and Highly Strung, then several more of his hits. He plugged a couple of new songs (mediocre) and also included a cover of Queen’s Somebody To Love, which he shouldn’t have, really. He finished up with classics Gold and True, as you might expect. Overall a polished performance, lots of crowd participation, and yes, we know the words! That set list in full can be found here.

As usual, the show finished on the dot of 9:00pm, presumably in accordance with local ordinances, and we were back home by 10.

 

NZSO Evening

Due to reasons, we’re being schmoozed by the NZSO. They’re holding an event at Loggy B’s, better known as Logan Brown, and we’re invited along. The two institutions have enjoyed a long association, and we’ve been to some of their events before. 

It was an early start, so we set out to arrive by 5:30pm. In fact, we were little early as we found a park, if not quite Hollywood style, then at least Melrose. We wandered down Cuba Street to Logan Brown, and were greeted by Marc, who is the head honcho of the NZSO. He didn’t know us from Adam, of course, so after a brief hello he moved on to the next group arriving behind us.

We were offered wine, and LB staff walked around with canapés, which, being Logan Brown, were delicious and beautiful. We chatted a while with the NZSO marketing people, then I spotted Steve Logan and had a long talk with him. Then Nicola found the timpanist, Lawrence, who she knows through her other associations and we chatted with him for a while. Marc then tapped on a glass for silence, and delivered a short speech, followed by the lead flautist. Then we had a slightly more substantial food offering, hot-smoked salmon, terrine and other bits and pieces.

All jolly good fun and now that we’re on their list, who know what else we’ll be invited to?

Bill Bailey - Vaudevillian

How many times have we been to see Bill Bailey? Loads. Does this stop us from going to see him again? It does not. Because he’s brilliant. He’s back, this time with a show called Vaudevillian. 

Obviously, dinner first. We booked into perennial favourites Mr. Go’s, at a slightly later time than usual. It was packed! Clearly everyone else had had the same idea, and it took somewhat longer than usual for our food to come out, so we were a bit rushed towards the end. This caused some issues when it came to paying, as I had the Mosaic Passport, but even so it came to more than I was expecting *. We paid and hoofed it up to the road to take our seats with minutes to spare at the Michael Fowler Centre.

On came Bill, to rapturous applause, and he started off with describing how wonderful our country is and how much he enjoys coming here…obviously a crowd-pleaser. He then took issue with one tiny part of our culture, and that was a pie that he’d bought at a roadside café. Not that there was anything wrong with the pie per se, but he likened the temperature of the contents to lava, magma, molten rock in general. At this point he was heckled by an audience member. At first he couldn’t catch what they were saying, so various members of the audience continued to shout it until he understood: “always blow on the pie!” This was something that he’d never heard before, but is familiar to Kiwis. Fortunately, he had a screen cunningly placed on the stage in front of him (presumably operated off-stage) that supplied him with the answer. “Have I walked into a meme?” he asked. Yes, Bill, you have. No doubt he continued to relate this story throughout the rest of his tour.

The rest of the show continued his usual themes of whimsy, musical interludes and general entertainment. He’d warned us at the beginning that he was unwell, and was recovering from a cough that made him swear. He called it the “Fuckough” and he did it every time he coughed. He ranted about a certain orange character in the White House, and complained about the current state of politics in the UK. As usual, he invited audience participation, particularly for song suggestions for the various musical instruments he played, which included a one-stringed lute and a miniature banjo. Ever heard Enter Sandman on a one-stringed lute? Well, now I have!

As always, he gives value for money with a show that lasted over two hours, including encore. Can’t wait for his next one!

* Next morning, I got a call from Mr. Go's. Apparently they had two tables booked for someone called Rory, and they'd charged me the wrong one. Everything got sorted out.

Those shows in full:

Thoughtifier (Nov 2023)

En Route To Normal (Mar 2021)

Larks In Transit (Oct 2016)

Limboland (Nov 2014)

Qualmpeddler (2013)

Dandelion Mind (2011)