Live at Homegrown, Claudelands Oval
14 March 2026
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
Written By Wolves Ignite Homegrown With A Thunderous Opening Salvo.
There’s no easing into a day like Jim Beam Homegrown when Written By Wolves are the band tasked with lighting the fuse.
Opening the rock stage at Claudelands Oval, frontman Michael Murphy wastes absolutely no time easing the crowd into the afternoon. He storms to the lip of the stage, stares down the growing sea of festival-goers and unleashes a war cry.
“Homegrown! How the fuck are we doing today? Are we ready to fucking party?”
The response is immediate and feral.
A brief musical pause follows, the kind that seasoned bands know how to weaponise and then a lone guitar riff cuts through the Hamilton air. Seconds later the full band detonates into life like a thunderous V8 screaming past your face at 200 kilometres an hour.
Welcome to the Written By Wolves experience.
Formed in Auckland, the band have spent the past decade carving out a unique lane in modern rock, a cinematic blend of alternative rock, electronic textures and arena-sized hooks that has helped them rack up tens of millions of global streams and build a loyal international fanbase.
And if there’s one thing Written By Wolves have become known for, it’s their explosive live shows. The group have shared stages with heavyweights like Limp Bizkit, Pendulum and Machine Gun Kelly, while also touring alongside New Zealand rock powerhouses Devilskin and Blindspott.
But festivals are a different beast.
There’s no warm-up act to ease the audience in, no slow build. When you’re first on the bill, you either grab the day by the throat or you disappear into the early-afternoon haze.
Written By Wolves choose option one.
Murphy commands the stage with the swagger of a seasoned arena performer, pacing, pointing, conducting the crowd like a rock-and-roll ringmaster. His voice soars effortlessly between melodic hooks and raw, throat-ripping power, reminding anyone who remembers his early days on New Zealand Idol just how far he’s evolved since those television studio days.
Behind him, the band deliver a wall of sound that feels tailor-made for the festival setting, pounding drums, razor-sharp guitars and those cinematic electronic layers that give Written By Wolves their signature sonic punch.
It’s big. It’s bold. And it’s unapologetically modern rock.
What’s striking about the set is how quickly the crowd buys in. Early festival slots can sometimes feel like a polite warm-up, but not today. Within minutes heads are banging, fists are pumping and the front row have transformed into headbangers.
Opening slots are often thankless jobs. But Written By Wolves don’t treat it that way. They approach it like headliners with something to prove.
By the time their final chords echo across Claudelands Oval, the rock stage isn’t just warmed up, it’s fully ignited.
And if the rest of the day at Homegrown is going to top that opening salvo, the bands that follow have just been handed one hell of a challenge.
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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