Live at The Domain
21 March 2026
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
Chaos, Hooks, and a Warning Shot: Made You Look Explode at Synthony.
Made You Look. The West Auckland duo comprised of Shelton Woolright and Alex Thompson weren’t just another name tucked into the deep end of a stacked Synthony lineup that included Faithless, Peking Duk, and Shapeshifter. They were a statement. A warning shot. A band walking onstage like they had something to prove…
And by the end?
Case closed.
Woolright didn’t just play drums; he attacked them.
Think lumberjack meets kaiju, sticks flying, skins punished, cymbals taking the kind of beating usually reserved for ex-lovers and broken tour vans. One rogue drumstick landed at my feet, though I suspect it was meant for my head and we both know why, Woolright.
This wasn’t precision drumming. This was theatre. Violence. Art.
Behind him, Alex Thompson held the centre like a man who knows hooks are currency. Vocals sharp, swagger intact, delivering lines with that half-sung, half-spat urgency that sits somewhere between heartbreak and a Saturday night bad decision.
Their origin story reads like myth: two creatives meeting in a West Auckland boxing gym, trading punches before trading ideas.
You hear that in the music.
There’s conflict in it. Tension. Release.
Made You Look aren’t polished in the traditional sense, they’re charged, their punk rock their something new and worth listening to. Their sound sits in that sweet spot between pop accessibility and rock aggression, blending big choruses with a grit that feels lived-in rather than manufactured.
Mid-set came the moment.
A new track, anchored by the line “Meet me at the bar”, landed like it already belonged to the crowd. You could feel it, that rare, electric recognition when a song hasn’t been released yet but somehow everyone already knows it.
And maybe we shall.
Because this thing? It’s a future radio staple. No question.
Hooks for days. Chorus built for summer. The kind of track programmers pretend they discovered first.
Here’s the thing about Synthon, it’s built on spectacle. Orchestra meets club culture, nostalgia meets now, all wrapped in a production that’s grown from a single 2017 show into a 40,000-strong cultural juggernaut.
But occasionally, amid the scale, a band cuts through with something more primal.
Made You Look did exactly that.
No gimmicks. No safety net. Just energy, intent, and songs that stick.
At the end Thompson walks off stage however Woolright the showman throws his pair of drumsticks high into the air and into the crowd, then taking a drink and raising it to the audience he then exits the stage. By the time they walked off, there was a lingering sense in the Domain air, not just applause, but mild confusion.
Why weren’t they higher up the bill?
Why weren’t they headlining?
Big, hook-driven pop rock with the kind of urgency most established acts spend years trying to rediscover.
Made You Look didn’t just show up.
They arrived.
And if this trajectory holds and all signs say it will, they won’t be the band you stumble across mid-afternoon next time.
They’ll be the reason you bought the ticket.
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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