Live at Homegrown, Claudelands Oval
14 March 2026
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
Fur Patrol Roar Back to Life at Homegrown: Julia Deans and Co. Prove Legacy Is Alive and Fierce.
There’s something deeply satisfying about watching a band that helped soundtrack an era walk onto a festival stage and remind everyone exactly why they mattered in the first place. When Fur Patrol fire up their set at the 2026 Jim Beam Homegrown, the effect is immediate, fierce, loud, and gloriously unapologetic.
From the first crunch of guitar, the sound punches across Claudelands Oval like a declaration. The crowd responds instinctively. No hesitation. No warm-up required. Just cheers, movement, and that unmistakable buzz that happens when a beloved Kiwi band hits the stage with purpose.
At the centre of it all is Julia Deans, singer, guitarist, and one of Aotearoa’s most distinctive voices. Since forming in Wellington in 1996, Fur Patrol have carved out a legacy that includes the double-platinum album Pet and the iconic single “Lydia,” which famously hit No.1 on the New Zealand charts and became one of the country’s defining rock songs of the early 2000s.
On stage in Hamilton, though, this isn’t about nostalgia. This band still plays like they have something to prove.
The guitars growl. The rhythm section of Andrew Bain and Simon Braxton locks in with the kind of tightness that only decades of shared history can produce. The songs, big, emotional, and melodic, feel as alive as ever.
For a band that released their debut EP Starlifter in 1998 and went on to tour relentlessly through the early 2000s, playing hundreds of shows across New Zealand and Australia, that level of conviction isn’t surprising. Fur Patrol built their reputation the hard way: through songwriting, long van rides between cities, and the kind of on-stage firepower that turns festival slots into statements.
And tonight proves they’ve lost none of it.
Festival sets can sometimes feel like snapshots, quick bursts of nostalgia before the next band takes over. But Fur Patrol don’t treat it that way. They play like it’s their show.
Like it always has been.
And for their time at Homegrown, it absolutely is.
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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