Sir Dave Dobbyn announces one-off Auckland Town Hall concert in June for Winter Concert Series
In a Facebook post announcing his diagnosis, Dobbyn said the news has given him a 'wider appreciation of life'.
'Of late, I have a tremor in my right hand which gives my guitar playing a new kind of twang. I have to do what I love, so it's business as usual and on with the show, singing all the way.'
He first gained notoriety in the Kiwi music scene with Th' Dudes in 1979 alongside Rikki Morris and Peter Urlich, enjoying further success with his band DD Smash and then as a solo artist.
Songs such as Slice of Heaven, Whaling, and Bliss have become local anthems, with Dobbyn and his band a regular fixture at popular events, including Jim Beam Homegrown and Rhythm and Vines.
Reporting on a performance with L.A.B in Tauranga in 2023, where Dobbyn and his band appeared instead of US band Sublime with Rome, NZ Herald journalist Alex Cairns said the then-66-year-old 'rasped 'Aaasiaaan cigarettes' (lyrics to Th' Dude's Be Mine Tonight) like it was recorded yesterday, and the quintessential Slice of Heaven really got the Domain crowd moving".
He has also won countless New Zealand Music Awards, Apra and Aria awards, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.
Dobbyn was knighted in 2020 and in 2003 was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music.
The details
Who: Sir Dave Dobbyn and his band
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Wednesday, June 4
Concert tickets for the general public go on sale Monday, May 5 at 11am.
My Live Nation members may secure tickets first during the pre-sale beginning Friday, May 2 at 11am through to Monday, May 5 at 10am.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Spinoff
an hour ago
- The Spinoff
A tribute to Neil, Auckland's legendary singing train manager
For years, a train manager has been brightening the lives of Auckland's commuters with his intercom melodies. Hayden Donnell honours Neil, patron saint of the Western Line. Steph Dickinson-Cole was tired and frazzled on her way home from work when she heard the familiar bing of the train intercom. 'This is your train manager, Neil,' sounded a friendly voice. He went through some of the usual spiel. Stay safe at all times. Please keep clear of the closing doors. Then the singing started. It was to the tune of 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', but the lyrics had been altered. 'AT wants to give you the best,' Neil warbled over the chorus refrain. When he was done, he wished his 'dear friends' a great evening. 'Honestly, it felt like the sky was way more blue,' says Dickinson-Cole. 'It was like the train was just, like, way lighter.' Dickinson-Cole's story is one of many. Across the years, Neil has shone a ray of metaphorical light into what would otherwise be the enveloping dark of thousands of Auckland commutes. His appearances are a surprise. We know Neil is usually on the Western Line. He seems to work more often during the evening rush hour. He appears to be an older Indian gentleman. But there's no way of guaranteeing an encounter. Some say it only happens when you need it most. The most reliable and well-documented fact about Neil is that he's a bonafide Kiwi legend. A horde of people have written into The Spinoff to describe being rescued from the pits of commuter despair by their singing train manager. 'Encountered multiple occasions of Neil on the evening commute from Britomart to Papakura last year,' said Kat. 'This amazing person would make an announcement on the train while singing his own rendition of a song and being happy, smiling and positive. He certainly puts a smile on your face after a busy day at work.' Many correspondents were particularly moved by a creative flurry from Neil in the lead-up to Christmas. Just like Dickinson-Cole, they described their evenings being turned around by Santa Claus coming to town aboard an AT train service. Michael remembered another version of the song. 'Something along the lines of 'Auckland Transport is taking you to town'. Lots of startled eyes up and near-smiles amongst the commuters,' he said, adding a familiar refrain. 'More power to him I say, some light in the AT train reliability issues darkness.' Neil also turned his voice to other carols. Logan recalled a rendition of 'Feliz Navidad' days before the holidays. Anthony was moved by a rendition of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'. Though he peaks in December, Neil is a year-round phenomenon. Dickinson-Cole recently recorded him singing to the tune of 'You've Got a Friend' by James Taylor. 'You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am, I'll come running… to see you. Neil is your train manager,' he crooned. Others sent recordings of Neil piercing the rush hour doldrums with classic rock and soul. Rebekah captured an augmented rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Proud Mary' on the southern line. 'Proud AT keeps on going. Rolling down the tracks…' he sang, before trailing off into an existential PSA. 'To Papakura and back, and that's how it will always be. Thank you dear friends.' Sophie captured a similar performance on the Western Line to Swanson. These encounters have been going on for years. 'In the shitshow that is AT, there is one shiny golden light at the end of the tunnel. This bundle of joy is Neil who is often the train manager on the Western Line heading into the city,' reads a three-year-old Reddit post from a passenger who'd just been treated to a public transport-themed performance of 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. 'Hi AT, I'd like to report our train manager for going thru carriage saying 'have a great evening' + making me think life is ok',' wrote Spinoff twerp Hayden Donnell on Twitter nine years ago. In all of this, Neil has never been recognised for his services to commuters. That's apparently by choice. Both AT and Neil's employer, Auckland One Rail, said he usually refuses interview requests. 'He is very humble!' explained an email from AOR's communications manager. He shouldn't be. The King's Birthday honours were just announced. Alongside genuine heroes like Suzy Cato and Dai Henwood are the usual gaggle of businessmen and former politicians getting recognised by King Charles for their services to having lots of money and knowing people from the government. Most of them haven't brought half the joy to the world in their entire lives that Neil does on a single afternoon service from Papakura to Britomart. It's time to right that wrong. Though the Crown may not see it as more valuable than shepherding through New Zealand's most punitive beneficiary crackdown or starting a knockoff Tupperware company, bringing cheer to thousands of punishing commutes is worthy of recognition. So arise, Sir Neil, The Spinoff names you knight of the six-carriage service, defender of the evening train. As Bette Midler once sang: 'Did you ever know that you're my hero? And everything I would like to be / I can go all the way to Swanson / For you are the wind beneath my tracks'. Thank you dear friend, and have a wonderful day. Stand clear of the closing doors.
The Spinoff
14 hours ago
- The Spinoff
From Dave Dobbyn to Japanese Breakfast: Reviews from the Auckland Winter Series
Four nights, four gigs, four reasons to love the Auckland Town Hall. Wednesday: Sir Dave Dobbyn The last and only other time I saw Dave Dobbyn live was at a craft beer festival in 2017. He came on around three or four in the afternoon and belted out a no-frills-no-fuss set of all the classic hits you'd want and expect Dave Dobbyn to play, then got out of there. It was your typical Festival Dobbyn experience, i.e. a bloody good time. Wednesday night at the town hall was a different kind of Dobbyn experience, a rare chance for him to tear up the festival setlist and play some deeper cuts from the catalogue. Calling the evening 'Selected Songs' should have been a clear signpost to anyone buying a ticket that this was the direction in which we were heading, though some of my fellow standing section punters were vocally less thrilled than I was to be treated to so many songs off Twist and Lament for the Numb in the first hour. Even those people got what they came for in the end, of course, with a rousing, Tami Nielson and Delaney Davidson-assisted version of 'Welcome Home' closing the set before 'Slice of Heaven' and 'Be Mine Tonight' in the encore. But this was a night for the real Dobbyn heads, and the highlights were plentiful. From the opening chimes of 'Belltower' to the ragged glory of 'Don't Hold Your Breath' to the high note at the end of 'You Oughta Be In Love', this set served as proof that not only has Sir Dave written some of this country's finest songs, he still has what it takes to bring the house down with them. / Calum Henderson Thursday: Teeks There's something a little bit terrifying about watching a performance from an artist whose work relies almost entirely on their voice. Of course, all singers rely on their voices, but most will have other things in a live show to entertain audiences – a band, back-up singers, dancing, even themselves playing an instrument. I watch artists all the time and never consider their voices less valuable because they have a band singing with them, but when I watched Teeks perform to a sold-out Town Hall on Thursday, I realised just how much his live performances live and die by his voice. And the voice delivered. Accompanied by a piano and a string sextet (he has previously performed with the full Auckland Philharmonia), Teeks put on an intimate show, cycling through his EP, album, a few newbies and a few covers of songs you'd expect to hear on a Teeks algorithm playlist – 'Drive' by Bic Runga, 'Landslide', 'Make You Feel My Love' and 'I Can't Make You Love Me'. His voice never faltered, except once when he teared up singing 'Never Be Apart' for his late friend Taryn. If it weren't for the surprisingly rowdy and vocal crowd, there were times when it could have fallen into being genuinely awkward. Teeks can sing – we all know this – but he's not much of a talker. Again, most of the time the banter between songs is barely registered, but when there's so much silence in the music itself, those moments of crowd interaction felt amplified and intimate, and it took Teeks a good hour before he sounded remotely comfortable speaking rather than singing. In the end, the show felt more like a studio session than a Town Hall concert – and I suspect Teeks himself would have preferred that setting. It was most amplified by his invitations for the crowd to sing along to his bigger hits. Have you ever sung along to a live song that only has a piano accompaniment? You don't, is the answer. Because if you did, literally everyone would hear you. It led to some awkward whisper singing from those of us who knew the lyrics but didn't want to be heard by the whole venue. Despite the awkwardness at times, Teeks managed to pull off something few can manage – a full audience captivated by only his voice. Ps. Who would have thought the only genuine encore chant I've heard in nearly five years would be at a Teeks concert? I eagerly await his second album. / Madeleine Chapman Friday: Mall Grab Having had Mall Grab's sets on heavy rotation for the past year, I wasn't just excited to see what he would bring to New Zealand – I was curious to see who else made up his Aotearoa fanbase. The crowd skewed older and more refined than other recent electronic events I've attended – an upper-middle-class, predominantly male group out for a well-curated night. The ample space to dance at the Auckland Town Hall is a rarity at gigs of this calibre. Christchurch producer and DJ Emilie opened with a confident, composed set. Her selections delivered just enough bounce to keep the energy alive without encroaching on headline territory. As a thick mist rolled across the stage, conversation on the dance floor faded. Mall Grab had arrived. He kicked things off with the 133 BPM future-nostalgic stunner Love Reigns – a softer side of his catalogue that still hit hard, setting the tone for a dynamic build throughout the night. The lighting and stage design elevated the entire experience, transforming the town hall into something reminiscent of an international warehouse rave. With punters allowed to gather on either side of the DJ, and a lighting technician absolutely dialled in, the visuals matched the sonic journey beautifully. Moving fluidly between ambient, sample-driven house and modern tech slammers, Mall Grab delivered a sophisticated, deeply textured set. It was a masterclass that spoke not only to his own artistic evolution but to the strength and depth of Melbourne's thriving electronic scene. / Diaz Grimm Saturday: Japanese Breakfast On a weekend where Instagram stories would have you believe every cool indie band in the world was in Barcelona for Primavera, it felt like a huge coup to have Japanese Breakfast in Auckland – especially so soon after the release of their fourth (and for my money best yet) album For Melancholy Brunettes (And Sad Women) (add 'Beardy Men' and I reckon you'd have a pretty good chunk of the audience covered). We had the band Mannequin Pussy to thank for their presence, bandleader Michelle Zauner explained – they came here in 2024 and made her green with envy when they posted pics from Hobbiton (Japanese Breakfast was heading there on Sunday). Thanks also to the show's organisers for choosing the perfect opening act: I went it having never heard locals Phoebe Rings before and left an evangelical fan (check out their new album). Japanese Breakfast is touring as a six-piece band and started their set in campfire mode, sitting around a lantern-lit stage for delicate acoustic FMBASW opener 'Here Is Someone'. But a large gong at the back of the stage suggested the intensity would build, and so it did across a set that balanced the more introspective new album with all the biggest hits of previous albums. 'Picture Window' and piano-led 'Men in Bars' (the drummer filling in for Jeff Bridges on his verse) were highlights off the new album, before Jubilee favourite 'Posing in Bondage' rounded out the main set. Chekhov's gong finally got a working over during the encore ('Paprika'), which would normally be the biggest rock move of the night but here was immediately overshadowed by the pick slides in closer 'Diving Woman'. Good band – I hope they had a really nice time at Hobbiton. / CH
Scoop
20 hours ago
- Scoop
Th' Dudes Revealed As Final Act To Play The Biggest Pub Gig In The World
They brought it home in 2020 as the headliners for the very first Biggest Pub Gig In The World and this year, we're bringing them back for another round. New Zealand's ultimate pub rock legends Th' Dudes are officially joining the bill for The Biggest Pub Gig In The World, going down Saturday 2 August at Spark Arena. They join a who's-who of Kiwi rock royalty – Dragon, Stellar*, Fur Patrol and Goodshirt – for one massive night of singalong anthems, questionable dance moves, and good old-fashioned rock'n'roll. It's like your favourite night out at the pub… only with a few thousand of your closest mates and slightly better lighting. Th' Dudes are the band that defined a generation of Kiwi nights out, ' Bliss ', ' Be Mine Tonight', 'Walking In Light', the list goes on. These songs continue to dominate the airwaves, pubs and sports grounds around the country. Their tunes are synonymous with a good time and that is exactly what we'll all be having come Saturday 2 August at Spark Arena. This is not your average arena gig. This is The Biggest Pub Gig In The World – a full-blown celebration of classic NZ music. The carpet will be laid, the pictures hung on walls,The White Lady fired up and ready to go, the meat raffles in hot demand as we prepare for the greatest night of Kiwi rock history. ' Forget about the last one, get yourself another.'
