Live at Whammy
28 August 2026
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
Going Global 2026, Day Two: When the Showcase Becomes a Gig
There comes a point during every music industry showcase when you stop thinking about the business of music and start remembering why you fell in love with music in the first place.
Powder Chutes: Let There Be a Mosh Pit
If there was one moment when the room definitively stopped behaving like a conference audience, it was Powder Chutes.
The Wānaka rockers were the first band of the night to get a full-on mosh pit happening.
And given the number of industry delegates, musicians, media and observers packed into the room, that is no small achievement.
This is a band that understands the ancient rock'n'roll equation:
Guitars + volume + attitude + bodies in motion.
Powder Chutes have been building momentum rapidly.
Their self-titled debut arrived in 2025, drawing on grunge, punk, hard rock and alternative rock, while their latest single, “Rivers,” arrived in July 2026 after being recorded at Auckland's Parachute Studios with producer Dave Rhodes.
They've already shared stadium-sized stages with Highly Suspect and attracted attention from overseas rock media.
But all the press quotes in the world mean nothing if the live show doesn't deliver.
Tonight it does.
The mosh pit is the review.
Sola Rosa: Twenty-Five Years Later, Still Moving the Room
And then there is Sola Rosa.
Twenty-five years into the Sola Rosa journey, Andrew Spraggon remains one of the most enduring and inventive figures in Aotearoa's electronic music landscape.
The project began with Spraggon's studio-led vision and has travelled through soul, funk, hip-hop, R&B and electronic music, continually reinventing itself along the way.
In 2026, Sola Rosa released In The Mids, the project's eighth studio album, returning to the studio-driven approach that originally defined Spraggon's work.
Spraggon's career stretches back to the early 2000s, including winning Best Electronic Release at the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards for Solarized.
Tonight, however, this isn't some laptop-and-lights exercise.
Sola Rosa arrive as a three-piece, with Spraggon at the helm alongside his percussionist and out front vocalist Wallace Gollan.
And Gollan?
Rock-star slick.
All black.
Effortlessly cool.
Although the visual contradiction comes courtesy of sandals paired with bright green socks.
Somewhere between beach holiday and international superstar, she somehow makes it work.
More importantly, the footwear clearly isn't restricting the performance.
Gollan is moving.
Even when she isn't singing, she's completely inside the music, dancing hard and throwing shapes that become almost as captivating as the songs themselves.
Then she opens her mouth and delivers the vocals with the confidence of someone who knows exactly how much space she owns.
This isn't backing-dancer energy.
This is star power.
Spraggon is locked into the groove, creating the rhythmic architecture that allows the performance to breathe, while Gollan becomes the focal point, a front person who seems physically incapable of standing still.
At one point Spraggon turns to Gollan and remarks:
“It's pretty hot up here.”
I'm close enough to hear the exchange acoustically rather than through the microphone.
And he's right.
I'm standing at the front, soaking up the grooves at dangerously close range.
When I turn around mid-song to see what's happening behind me, the answer is exactly what I expected.
Nobody is standing still.
That's the real measure of Sola Rosa.
Not the statistics.
Not the awards.
Not the 25-year history.
Not even the millions of streams.
It's that physical response.
The music gets into the room and the room moves.
Leao: Waiting for the Beat
Leao provide one of the night's more challenging experiences.
They don't exactly open with a bang.
In fact, initially there is very little impact at all.
Discordant tones appear seemingly at random, giving the impression we've wandered into a rehearsal rather than a showcase.
Then eventually...
The beat arrives.
And we're off.
There are moments where the music takes on an almost cinematic quality, at times sounding like the soundtrack to a John Ford western, complete with tumbleweed rolling through a deserted town.
The live vocals are heavily effected, way too heavily.
There is very little dynamic range across the songs, with much of the performance seemingly sitting at one level.
At one point, the vocal effect appears to remain active while the singer is attempting to speak between songs, creating an unfortunate distraction.
Then comes one particularly strange sonic moment when the band seems to briefly resemble Adam and the Ants being played on a 45rpm record at 33rpm.
There is clearly an idea here.
The challenge is turning that idea into a live performance with greater dynamics, definition and impact.
Ardon England: The Conference Turns Into a Club
Then Ardon England walks into the room and throws the rulebook into the bin.
A DJ.
A singer.
Dancers.
A theatrical production.
A club environment suddenly materialises inside an artists showcase.
Ardon England is unlike anything else on the bill tonight.
And that's precisely why the performance works.
The Auckland-based Māori and queer electronic artist has been developing a reputation for high-energy, theatrical live performances that combine club production with full-body performance and unapologetic queer expression.
His EP I'M THAT BITCH reached No. 4 on the Official Aotearoa Album Charts and No. 2 on the Independent Artist Charts.
Tonight, the audience doesn't need convincing.
They're already in.
The crowd is loving it.
England understands something fundamental about modern live music.
Sometimes the most effective way to stand out is not to compete with everybody else on their terms.
Change the terms.
Turn the venue into a nightclub.
Make the audience part of the performance.
Give them something they didn't expect to see when they walked through the door.
And suddenly, once again, we're reminded that this isn't really a conference.
It's a music festival hiding inside a conference.
The Real Going Global
That's ultimately what Day Two of Going Global is about.
Not perfection.
Not every act walking away with a record deal or an overseas booking.
It's about moments.
The mosh pit during Powder Chutes.
The infectious movement of Sola Rosa.
The theatrical world of Ardon England.
The abrasive unpredictability of Leao.
These showcase nights are essentially speed dating for the global music industry.
Artists get a short window to make a lasting impression.
The international delegates get a short window to discover tomorrow's potential.
And the audience gets the privilege of seeing that potential before tomorrow arrives.
Some performances leave you thinking.
Some leave you wanting more.
Some leave you wondering exactly what the hell you just witnessed.
Some leave you covered in somebody else's mosh-pit sweat.
And occasionally, one makes you turn around and realise an entire room is dancing.
Those are the moments worth going global for.
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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