Live at Homegrown, Claudelands Oval
14 March 2026
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
From Red Hair to Rock Royalty: Stellar Remind Us Why They Matter.
There’s a certain magic that happens when a band steps on stage and instantly transports you back to another time. That’s exactly what happens when Stellar* walk out into the blazing Waikato sun at Jim Beam Homegrown.
Confidence radiates from the stage before a single note is played.
Boh Runga appears in black dungarees and a black crop top, effortlessly cool. Some rockstars rely on flamboyant outfits to command attention. Others simply possess it. Boh is firmly in the latter category. The swagger is unmistakable, the kind that can’t be taught or styled by a wardrobe department. She carries herself like someone who has been doing this forever, and in many ways she has.
Still stunning as when I first met her many years ago, Boh has aged with grace, poise and elegance, yet the rock star inside remains fully intact. When she begins to sing, that voice, silky, smooth and unmistakable, floats across Claudelands Oval with pristine clarity. The band’s mix is studio-clean, every instrument sitting perfectly in place.
During Undone the festival crowd becomes part of the performance. In the heat of the afternoon sun, smiling faces stretch across the field as fans sing along word for word, heads nodding and bodies swaying to the song’s infectious rhythm. It’s the sound of nostalgia colliding with the present moment.
Then comes a story.
“This is a song, our very first one… when I had red hair,” Boh laughs, addressing the audience. “I don’t know if you remember?”
Remember? Of course we do.
For many of us it’s impossible not to think back to the moment What You Do (Bastard) first burst onto New Zealand radio in the late ‘90s, launching Stellar* into the national consciousness. The band formed in Auckland in 1994 and would go on to release the multi-platinum debut album Mix in 1999, a record that helped define a golden era of modern Kiwi rock. During What You Do, the band seamlessly Verves into Bitter Sweet Symphony, sharing a similar chord progression, a smooth transition that some in the audience might have missed. Side note: their first-ever single release was actually Happy Gun, though perhaps that’s a story they’ve already forgotten.
Boh speaks to the audience: “When we got asked to play this gig, I was like, YES! It’s on my birthday.” She even brought some cupcakes, 44 of them, a random number not associated with her birthday years, but she says she will share them with the audience a bit later.
For me, it sparks a personal memory too. The first time I ever saw Stellar* live was at the old Roadhouse in Papakura, a tiny venue compared to the wide open space of Claudelands Oval, but the electricity was the same. That was many moons ago now, yet hearing the band tear into their early material still feels like reconnecting with an old friend.
What’s remarkable is how tight they sound. Stellar* haven’t toured heavily in recent years, yet today they perform like a band that never stepped away. Razor sharp, confident, and completely at ease on stage, they deliver each song with the relaxed precision of seasoned professionals who know exactly what they’re doing.
Some bands fade into nostalgia. Others remind you why they mattered in the first place.
Stellar* fall firmly into the latter category.
And on a sun-drenched afternoon at Homegrown, they prove that some songs and some bands, never really leave you.
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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