Live at The Powerstation
11 September 2026
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
Happy Mondays: Pills, Thrills, Maracas and One Wet Auckland Night.
The Madchester legends bring 35 years of Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches to a sold-out Powerstation and Bez still has more energy than most people half his age.
There are certain bands you don't simply go to see. You go to experience them.
Happy Mondays are one of those bands.
A genuine UK institution, the Manchester originals have spent more than four decades blurring the lines between rock, funk, psychedelia, dance music and outright chaos. And tonight's return to Auckland's Powerstation is particularly special: the band are celebrating 35 years of Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches, the 1990 album that helped define the Madchester era and turned the Happy Mondays from cult Manchester outsiders into international stars. The album reached No. 4 in the UK and spent 28 weeks on the Official Albums Chart.
This is also their first New Zealand show in seven years.
So naturally, the first thing that happens is that I can't get into the building.
Upon arrival at the Powerstation, myself and fellow photographers discover that none of us are on the door list. Somewhere in outer space, the machine has broken down and the email list hasn't made its way to the front door.
No biggie, right?
Well… no biggie if you don't want any coverage of your first New Zealand show in seven years.
I make a call to Australia, eventually hand my phone to Powerstation owner Peter Campbell, and, with that swiftly dealt with, the night can finally begin.
And begin it does.
Opening tonight are Auckland's Debt Club, a five-piece who immediately sound like they've wandered in from a particularly good night somewhere between 1983 and 1987.
There's a definite 80s influence running through them, but there's nothing tired about it. Alex Vujanic on saxophone sounds fantastic, River Hann-Ellen has a strong voice and, importantly, the songs are genuinely catchy.
Drummer Maxime Zephyr tells us this is a huge deal for the band tonight and you can see it on stage.
There's another nice connection, too: he's from Salford, near Manchester, the same part of the world that produced the Happy Mondays.
The band's kit is squeezed sideways into stage left, but Debt Club don't let the cramped surroundings restrict them. They put on a solid, energetic set and do exactly what a good support act should do: warm the room without trying to steal the show.
The only disappointment is the audience.
Far too many people are busy talking while Debt Club are playing.
And that's a shame because there's something rather good happening on stage. You can almost hear the conversations five years from now:
"I saw that band before they got big."
Well, tonight was the opportunity.
Pay attention.
Before the Happy Mondays appear, The Chemical Brothers' "Hey Boy Hey Girl”, pounds through the PA, setting the mood.
And then they arrive.
The lights go down and suddenly the Powerstation doesn't feel like Mount Eden anymore.
It feels like Manchester.
From the opening moments, it's obvious this isn't going to be some polite nostalgia exercise.
The band are tight.
Really tight.
Firouzeh Berry's backing vocals are superb, adding a powerful dimension to the sound, while Gaz Whelan anchors everything from behind the kit.
Mark Day's guitar gives the music its familiar swagger, Dan Broad is effectively the musical control centre, moving between keyboards, guitar, samples and programming and then there's Shaun.
Shaun Ryder.
There are moments when Shaun appears to be operating approximately one or two songs ahead of the set list.
Is it excitement?
Poor eyesight?
Good drugs?
Perhaps a combination of all three.
Nobody seems particularly concerned.
It's Shaun Ryder.
And that's part of the entertainment.
The sold-out, forty-something crowd certainly isn't complaining.
They're dancing.
They're bouncing.
They're bopping.
Almost everybody is moving.
And then comes "Step On."
The place erupts.
Hands go into the air. People start pumping their arms. Bodies move everywhere.
For a band whose biggest hit is now 36 years old, that's quite an achievement.
"Step On" wasn't just another Happy Mondays single. It was their biggest hit and became one of the defining sounds of the Madchester explosion. The song was originally a cover of John Kongos' "He's Gonna Step on You Again", but the Oakenfold/Osborne treatment transformed it into something that belonged entirely to the Mondays.
And tonight, the Powerstation owns it.
Then there's Bez.
At 62, he is still an absolute ball of energy.
Maracas in hand, he's dancing, shaking, grinning and making contact with practically everyone within reach.
During "Donovan," he spots me filming and decides that apparently my camera requires some personal attention.
He comes straight towards the lens, maracas shaking, smiling directly into the camera.
It's a brilliant moment.
Because Bez understands something that many performers never quite grasp:
connection matters.
He isn't merely performing at the audience.
He's performing to them.
And occasionally, directly into the camera of some bloke trying to photograph him.
"Bez, you're 62 tonight, are you on E? I bet you wish you were!” Exclaims Shaun.
The thought crosses my mind.
The man certainly has the energy.
The Powerstation's lighting tonight is, frankly, bloody awful.
The band spend much of the show in darkness.
I'm not sure whether the lighting technician is ill, having an off night, or simply decided that the audience didn't need to see the performers.
It's particularly frustrating because there is so much visual energy happening on stage.
Bez is moving constantly.
Shaun is Shaun.
The band are working.
Firouzeh is delivering an excellent vocal performance.
And yet much of it disappears into the shadows.
It feels less like a deliberate smoky Manchester aesthetic and more like we're watching a Vegas band performing in the pokiest corner of a smoky little club.
Except this isn't a poky little club.
It's the Powerstation.
And the audience deserves to see the band they've paid to see.
This is Happy Mondays.
After a 16-song set that has effectively turned the Powerstation into one giant dance floor, Shaun thanks the audience, takes a bow and exits.
And just like that, it's over.
The faces around me tell the story.
Smiles everywhere.
Sweaty smiles.
Exhausted smiles.
The kind of smiles that tell you people have had a bloody good night.
There's a reason Happy Mondays have survived.
They're not simply a band from another era touring around playing the hits.
They're a cultural institution.
They helped create a moment in British music when the walls between indie rock, dance music, psychedelia and club culture started disappearing.
The Mondays were right there in the middle of it.
Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches remains the defining document of that period, with its mixture of guitars, beats, samples, funk, psychedelia and Ryder's uniquely Mancunian vocal delivery. The album went platinum in the UK and remains regarded as one of the key records of the Madchester movement.
The band were also recognised with the Ivor Novello Inspiration Award in 2016, underlining just how much their influence extended beyond the chaos and mythology surrounding them.
Tonight, though, none of that history really matters.
Because the Powerstation isn't a museum.
It's a dance floor.
And Happy Mondays are still making people dance.
After the show, I get to spend some time chatting with guitarist Mark Day.
Naturally, our conversation eventually turns to the weather.
Mark tells me he didn't bring any warm clothes with him.
Not even a jumper.
Why?
Because, like many Brits, he assumed Australia and New Zealand would be hot.
It's one of those misconceptions we seem to export around the world.
I tell him I made exactly the same mistake when I first came to New Zealand, although, unlike Mark, I was actually moving here, so at least I brought some warm clothes.
Mark is heading to Wellington tomorrow.
I suggest that he might want to buy a jumper.
Then I reconsider.
"Actually, forget the jumper. Buy a raincoat."
Because if Wellington lives up to its reputation, he'll need it.
And probably a bloody good one.
And with that, the night is over.
I walk outside into an Auckland rainy night, feeling that I've just witnessed something rather special.
Happy Mondays came to Auckland to celebrate 35 years of Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches.
They delivered the hits.
They delivered the dancing.
Bez delivered the maracas.
Shaun delivered Shaun.
And somewhere between the Manchester beats, the dodgy lighting, the forgotten door list, the Salford connection, one very enthusiastic support band and a room full of forty-something people dancing like nobody was watching, the Powerstation became Manchester for a couple of hours.
16 songs.
One sold-out room.
One legendary band.
And a whole lot of tired feet.
Happy Mondays?
Still very much happy.
Happy Mondays Set List:
- Kinky Afro
- God's Cop
- Donovan
- Grandbag's Funeral
- Loose Fit
- Dennis and Lois
- Bob's Yer Uncle
- Step On
- Holiday
- Harmony
- Hallelujah
- Mad Cyril
- Rave On
- Judge Fudge
- 24 Hour Party People
- Wrote for Luck
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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