Previous Gig 9 Mar 2018: Mark Mazengarb, Joe K. Walsh & Andrew VanNorstrand

New year’s greetings to all you Village Music supporters and fans.

This year will mark our 8th year of bringing live music to the old Mt Eden Village Hall. (aka The Mt Eden Village Centre).

And for this Soirée season, we currently have six Friday concerts booked or pencilled-in for our mutual listening pleasure, from March to October. We may even do seven nights if all the stars align. :-)

To kick off this year’s season we have an extra special treat with the return of Mark Mazengarb to the Village Music stage, along with Joe K. Walsh & Andrew VanNorstrand, directly from the USA.

To say that Mark is a virtuoso guitar player is putting it somewhat mildly. If you were fortunate to be able to attend our previous show with Mark & Loren Barrigar back in 2013, or if you’ve heard Mark on RNZ, you will know just what I mean.

So when Mark brings a fiddle player and a mandolin player over from the States to join him in concert - you just know that we are all in for a listening treat.

As curator of these concerts, I can honestly recommend this as a great way to spend a Friday night - bluegrass and western swing are musical genres close to my heart and these guys are right off the top shelf.

As previous Village Music goers, you know just what a great night our soirées always are, so as we always say - Bring your ears, bring friends, bring family, BYO, grab a table and settle in for a great Friday night of conviviality and live music.

Previous Gig 10 Nov 2017: The Andrew London Trio

Previous Gig 29 Sept 2017: Louis Jarlov & Julio/The Remarkables

Previous Gig 25 Aug 2017: Sarah Spicer

SARAH SPICER and The BLUE RIDERS is a collective featuring NZ X Factor star performer singer/songwriter Sarah Spicer with The Blue Riders: Liam Ryan (keyboards), Buck Croyden (lap-steel and guitars), Wayne Melville (bass) and Jeff Baker (drums and percussion).

Sarah spent 10 years playing in the USA alongside the cream of American blues artists in the San Fransisco/Bay area including John Lee Hooker with whom she recorded. She has two albums of original songs and is currently collaborating on a third album with The Blue Riders in Liam Ryan’s Torch Music studio.

 Sarah delivers a deeply moving performance. Her powerful voice and soulful songs explore the road back from stardom and the inner journey to the heart.

 We experienced atmosphere, real emotion and rare simpatico as Sarah weaved her magic with her seasoned, hand-picked band.

 Check out Mr Johnson, her recently released exquisite tribute to blues legend Robert Johnson:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly2MunGtPiQ

 

Previous Gig 11 Aug 2017: Greg Johnson

The first of 2 gigs for August -

It was wonderful to hear this consumate professional play those ever familiar tunes along with some great new stuff all accompanied by an equally professional band. That was a great night!

Previous Gig 7 July 2017: Donna Dean and Brent Parlane

Real pleased to welcome Brent Parlane (ex Melbourne and currently on a world tour) to our concert series and to bring Donna Dean (Tui winner) back to our stage. Donna was one of our first concert performers for VillageMusic and what a great night that was. Following that performance, Donna has won a Tui, been the subject of a documentary, played Nashville and released a whole lot of new material. Brent Parlane is one of our great musical exports. Many of us will recall his famous days in the New Zealand country music scene. Brent plays regularly around Australia and has maintained a steady output of original music to a loyal fan base. Donna and Brent have performed together in Melbourne and for this show will be joined with a couple of guest musicians for backing on bass and guitars.

This will be a very special evening. As always, bring friends, bring family, bring your ears and BYO.

Click here to buy tickets now!

Previous Gig 7 Apr 2017: Wayne Gillespie

Another fantastic display of musical prowess at Village Music

Previous Gig 17 Feb 2017: The Company

The COMPANY were great - here’s a link to their website:  http://www.thecompanybluegrass.com/

Previous Gig Sep 2016: The Wonderfish Collection

The Wonderfish Collective have a great line-up of real talent on board. They're great to listen to and they're great fun with it. 

That's what Village Music is all about - Great live music, plenty of conviviality and an opportunity to really relax and have a good 'listen', up close with the musicians who are making the music.

This was a special pre-Christmas concert event for Village Music, following a couple of sold out nights on the North Shore.

In keeping with the ethos of these guys, they were once again raising funds for a good cause - this time, on North Head, where there is a need for rescue equipment.

Previous Gig Sep 2016: The Narcs

And now for something completely different… In keeping with all that is eclectic, VillageMusic presents the NARCS - A Village Gig.

From the golden age of the 80’s these guys have never let it slip. Rikki Morris joins us on the Village Music stage for the first time (having worked the levers for a few of our past soirées, it’s great to see him in the line-up for this one) and none other than Pete Warren is sitting in the middle seat for this session - now we really are cooking. Doesn’t matter how cold this winter gets - the Narcs know how to turn up the heat… ;-)

This was a great night - there was even be dancing - of course!

Previous Gig July 2016: Lou'ana Whitney

In keeping with our Village Music passion for stunning female vocalists, we are delighted to bring Lou'ana Whitney and her band to the The Mt Eden Village Centre.

Lou’ana has been steadily forging a reputation as a great talent for the past few years in various soul/funk/jazz bands and musical collectives around Auckland.

Lou’ana brings a vocal style and a gorgeous delivery that oozes with great feel and character, add to that the musical skills of Dillon Riesterer, Cam Sangster, et al and this promises to be a really delightful evening.

Lou'ana and the band are already rehearsing for it!

Can't think of a better venue than the old hall for these guys - and a Village Music Soiré is the perfect way to enjoy it.

Expecting numbers to be quite high, so get tickets sooner rather than later.

Previous Gig June 2016: Derek Lind

Our 2nd Soirée for our Winter Series featured the very accomplished performer and songwriter DEREK LIND, accompanied by:

APRA Silver Scroll winner Guy Wishart (guitar and banjo),
Alan Brown (Hammond A100),
Andrew Horst (Bass),
Kevin Adair (Drums) and
Glenn Ross Campbell (Weissenborn Lap-slide).

Most recently heard on Radio New Zealand a few weeks ago, Lind has played at major arts and music festivals both overseas and in NZ. He has supported international acts such as Sam Philips, Michelle Shocked, and the Hot House Flowers.

His music is in the tradition of the singer-songwriter, drawing its influences from blues, country and rock music. Influences include Dylan, Neil Young, T-Bone Burnette, John Prine, Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, Peter Case, John Hiatt & Van Morrison.

This was be a concert that will linger in the memories - there aren’t too many opportunities to have a really good listen to these guys live - and we’re thankful to have welcomed them to our family.