Live at Homegrown, Claudelands Oval
14 March 2026
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
Devilskin Owns the Night: Homegrown Erupts as Jennie Skulander Roars.
Night has properly fallen over Claudelands Oval when Devilskin storm the Rock Stage and suddenly the entire place feels electrified. The stage erupts in colour, massive LED screens blaze behind the band, bursts of fire punch into the dark sky, and the lighting rig transforms the festival field into something closer to a full-scale arena show. For a band that built its reputation grinding it out on club stages across Aotearoa, Devilskin now look every inch the heavyweight champions of New Zealand rock.
If there’s any doubt about that status, it disappears the moment Jennie Skulander opens her mouth. Few vocalists anywhere can summon the kind of raw power she delivers live. The sound is enormous yet precise, a voice that can roar like thunder one moment and cut through the mix with razor clarity the next.
Between songs she pauses to take throat medicine, the reality of life for a singer pushing their voice to the edge night after night, but the moment the band launches into the next number there’s no hint of fragility. The voice remains, bigger than ever.
Skulander shares a moment of real honesty with the crowd.
“You know what’s great? I get to go home tonight just up the road and sleep in my own fucking bed!”
For most punters in the crowd that probably sounds like an ordinary statement. For musicians who’ve lived the endless cycle of airports, vans, hotels and motorway service stations, it’s something else entirely. Touring is intoxicating, but nothing beats the rare luxury of finishing a massive show and heading home to your own pillow. Judging by the grin on Skulander’s face, tonight that thought alone is fuelling her performance.
Across the stage, guitarist Tony Vincent plays like a man possessed. Every riff lands with force and precision, and he prowls the stage with the confidence of someone who knows exactly how powerful the music behind him is. Several times during the set he locks in with bassist Paul Martin, the two leaning into each other and driving the songs forward with that classic hard-rock chemistry that turns good bands into great live acts.
Behind them, drummer Nic Martin is an absolute machine. Every beat lands perfectly, thunderous yet controlled, the kind of performance where you realise halfway through the set that he hasn’t missed a single strike. The rhythm section alone could power a stadium.
There’s also a moment of classic festival camaraderie when Skulander glances across the site and acknowledges that Fur Patrol are playing another stage almost opposite to them.
“Let’s say hi to Julia,” she laughs, referencing Fur Patrol frontwoman Julia Deans.
“On three… shout JULIA!”
Thousands of voices respond instantly, the roar carrying across the festival grounds.
Then comes one of the night’s most jaw-dropping moments. Skulander bends backward so far it looks physically impossible and unleashes a towering high note that slices through the night air like a siren. It’s the kind of rock-star moment you don’t forget.
Having seen Devilskin only a week earlier performing with the Full Metal Orchestra in New Plymouth, the conclusion is impossible to avoid: they are still evolving, still tightening, and still kicking serious arse.
Since exploding onto the New Zealand rock scene with their platinum-selling debut album We Rise in 2014, Devilskin have built a reputation as one of the country’s most ferocious live acts. They’ve opened for global heavyweights, filled theatres and festivals across the country, and somehow still perform every show like it might be their last.
Tonight at Homegrown, that reputation only grows stronger.
Under the lights, fire, and the roar of thousands, Devilskin don’t just play a festival set.
They own the night.
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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