Lydia Burgham reflects on over a decade of being a Taylor Swift fan, and reviews her Reputation Tour show at Mt Smart Stadium. I just turned 21. And the one constant throughout my young adult life has been my adoration for a certain blonde haired pop star who sings about her feelings. Taylor Swift’s Fearless … Read more
Celine Dion just finished her world tour with three concerts at Auckland’s Spark Arena. Huge fan Madeleine Chapman was there to experience the magic. In 2015, I flew to Las Vegas, the last place I’d choose to holiday, and spent a lot of money so that I could see Celine Dion’s show at Caesar’s Palace. … Read more
Teeks, Emily King, and Tank and the Bangas performed together in a three-part outdoor event for Auckland Arts Festival. Madeleine Chapman was there. Tank and the Bangas couldn’t hear themselves. It was a disappointing start to the much anticipated final act of an otherwise flawless three-part event. I had seriously considered not even going after … Read more
James Blunt may be a world-class entertainer but his crowd at Spark Arena last night were anything but. Madeleine Chapman reviews one of her favourite artists. The worst part of the James Blunt concert was the crowd. The best part was everything else. James Blunt, the man everyone loves to hate because of a song … Read more
Preeminent One Direction scholar Millie Lovelock reviews the Harry Styles concert at Spark Arena. I’ll start at the beginning because concerts like this don’t just start when the band take the stage. For at least a thousand Harry Styles fans, the show started long before I was even conscious on Saturday morning. Fans were camping overnight, … Read more
Blackbird Ensemble musical director Claire Cowan talks to James Manning about adapting Björk’s eclectic back catalogue for the orchestra ahead of this week’s run of concerts in Auckland. New Zealand chamber orchestra Blackbird Ensemble are celebrating experimental Icelandic artist Björk this Wednesday 8th to Saturday 11th November at Auckland’s Q Theatre. Titled Björk: All is … Read more
To celebrate 25 years of making music together, former child band Hanson played a single concert at Auckland Town Hall. Madeleine Chapman went along with a stranger she met while eating dinner. Despite my outsized confidence in the reliability of my friends and family, on Tuesday night I found myself eating at Nando’s, about to … Read more