Gigs galore!

The recent change of COVID-19 alert levels means that our Ockham Collective residents can get back to what they enjoy doing the most: playing live. New Zealand's live music scene has taken a battering this year, having a huge impact on the incomes of the nation's gigging musicians. While nothing is certain in these strange times, our fingers are tightly crossed that these events featuring our OC whānau will all be able to progress as planned.

Our resident ukulele enthusiast Sonia Wilson kicks things off with rock/folk/country/Parisian cover band Tainui Tuesdays playing at D's Ranch in Devonport this Saturday (October 3). Expect a fun evening of live music and family-friendly dining.

The following Friday (October 9), Sonia and fellow OC resident Emily Roughton will be joining Chris Priestley's Unsung Heroes for a night of 'Old slides and new songs about Auckland and New Zealand's distant past' at the Mt Eden Village Centre, as part of the Auckland Heritage Festival.

On the same night in Tauranga, Kingsley Spargo will be headlining at the Jam Factory, playing songs from his first solo album, Chasing Spirits, as well as road-testing brand-new tracks from his upcoming album.

Genre-defying guitar band Gitbox Rebellion (pictured, with Sonia far right) is hitting the road for gigs in Gisborne on Sunday, October 11, as part of the Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, and in Havelock North on Sunday, October 18, as part of the Hawke's Bay Arts Festival.

If you're in Hawke's Bay you can zip straight from the Gitbox show to Hastings to see Kingsley performing in what's bound to be one of the highlights of the Arts Festival, Floating Islands. Don't miss this evening of narratives and live soundscapes featuring Aotearoa’s most important writer, Witi Ihimaera, and singer and actress Mere Boynton. Not only will Kingsley, along with keyboard virtuoso Alan Brown, be performing their original soundscape, Kingsley is also the co-director of the show.

Cantabrians can catch a stripped-back version in An Evening with Witi Ihimaera & Kingsley Spargo as part of Word Christchurch on Saturday, October 31.

For further details of all of these performances, and links to booking sites, click on our Events Calendar.