Stories

Bill Bailey has a lot on his mind. Again. The hit UK comedian shares a slice or two as he prepares for a mammoth tour of Aotearoa. You are visiting 14 gems in our crown over a month – sounds more like a house-hunting trip than a tour. There’s a lot to see here – it’s twice the size of the UK. Plus the wildlife is the best – not too bitey, not too big. It’s Goldilocks – just right. Have you thought of just staying on and seeing if anyone notices? You could hide on Stewart Island. I tried that last time but I ended up on Instagram – there’s no escape these days. You were an environmentalist back when people thought it a bit kooky. So was the now King Charles. Not so kooky now, eh? Exactly – feels like a vindication. Oh, the ‘tree-huggers and bunny huggers’ –...

Yesteryear glamour and next-wave technology combine in the best of both worlds. Glam Advances in materials and construction mean minimalism can be very minimal these days. Now, for the maximalists, some relief – decoration is back on the palette, with designers taking inspiration from jewellery in adding some filigree to the function. Round 3D spheres or 2D circles are a key design trend for 2024. Balls, with their organic form, chime with the increasingly eco-conscious consumer. Soft light enclosed in a glass sphere also works well with the modern trend to smaller living spaces. Sculptural Again, modern materials have made just about any form possible and designers have responded with gusto. The results are sculptures that adorn the room first and light it second. Modular Old trend, you say? Sure, but applying it to lamps is bringing some fun to the function for next year. Versatility and customisation are the keywords...

Hands up if you are one of the 40,000 people at a Come Together gig over the last three years? The series of rock concerts recreating classic songs by Elton John, David Bowie, Dire Straits, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles and Rolling Stones has become one of our most successful. Now, for a banger end to 2023, the Come Together crew of Jon Toogood, Julia Deans, Sam Scott, James Milne (Lawrence Arabia), Dianne Swann, Brett Adams, Matthias Jordan, Jol Mulholland, Alistair Deverick and Mike Hall will deliver the biggest and best songs they’ve recreated in those three years. Audiences and critics have raved about the concert series. “These folks didn’t ‘cover’ the songs performed tonight, they inhabited them,” said one. “A concert that many in attendance will never forget,” said another. Here’s a chance to see a Kiwi supergroup breathe new life into rock’s songbook. Come to party!...

Books to read, television to bingewatch, music to dance to and podcasts to fill your spare time this September. Bingewatching What We Do in the Shadows: From the hilarious original film set in Wellington comes this US series, now up to season 5 and still going strong. A look into the nightly lives of four vampires who have lived together on New York’s Staten Island for over a century. Kin: If you like your series gritty, look out for season 1 of Kin. Charlie Cox leads this Irish gang war drama about a deadly feud between a small Dublin family and an international cartel. Co-stars Clare Dunne, Aidan Gillen and Ciarán Hinds. The Morning Show: Back for a third season, this behind-the-scenes look at US morning television has many parallels for New Zealand viewers. This season, the future of the network is thrown into question and loyalties are pushed to the...

Ringmaster Jeremy Corbett is taking the 7 Days comedy circus back on the road for another series of live shows. No cameras, no censors, no lawyers. Gulp! How does it feel not having that TV safety net of editors and producers? Not too different really. There is a lot of rude nonsense talked during the recording of the TV show, and the live audience on the day seems to enjoy that. Our awesome edit team takes that and makes it 7:30pm TV-friendly. The live tour is much like the recording. It's great fun. Does it make you bolder? I think I speak for the other comedians when I say it’s about being funny first. Knowing we can be a bit risqué just gives us more options. It’s not rude for the sake of it, but sometimes it’s great to make jokes about adult stuff with other adults! What’s one thing people probably don’t...

Just being back in front of a live audience is thrill enough for Matt ‘Suffa’ Lambert of Hilltop Hoods. We talk to the rapper on the eve of Hilltop Hoods’ Christchurch gig. Tell us about last year’s sold-out Australian arena tour. The ‘Show Business’ tour was amazing. It felt like the first time that we’d been properly back on the road since the start of the pandemic. So honestly, that was probably the highlight. Don’t get me wrong, the shows were amazing, but that feeling of returning to live music was huge for me. Also, we took along A.B. Original and Elsy Wameyo for the ride and they crushed it. That was great to watch. And you’ve just completed your biggest UK/Europe tour. How was that? The UK and Europe were amazing. Some of the biggest shows that we’ve ever done over there. It was crazy going into their summer and seeing...

Family connections remain Katchafire’s bedrock after two decades together. The roots reggae masters’ hectic tour schedule will bring them to Christchurch in September. It’s been a while since Katchafire performed in Christchurch. There was an epic gig at The Esplanade in New Brighton in 2005. Yes, that was a real meat and potatoes venue for us. It would have been a quintessential Katchafire gig, that one. We’ve been back to New Zealand every year except for during COVID but it’s been a while since we played Christchurch. Who is on the tour? We’ve got the full band and the full horn section. Every horn section here in New Zealand is busy so we have to share! Some of our horn section also play with Troy Kingi, for example. They’re very talented musicians. Has your relentless touring schedule slowed down at all? No. We’ve just completed an eight-week tour of the US....

It’s 90 years since Alfonso Bialetti brought espresso coffee into the home kitchen with his iconic Moka Express, the original stovetop espresso maker.  That’s a birthday any bean head will want to celebrate. Cityscape has teamed up with Bialetti to mark the occasion with a limited-edition Moka Express decorated in the work of graffiti spaghetti artist Mr Doodle, aka Sam Cox. You’ll need coffee with that so we are including a 3-month subscription of Supreme Stovetop Grind Blend, delivered to your door fortnightly. You can buy your own Bialetti x Mr Doodle’s limited-edition Moka Express from early September at Supreme and selected roasters and online at Bialetti.co.nz. Each purchase comes with a Bialetti 90th anniversary drawstring bag. To enter the lucky draw, go to our socials and tell us who your coffee buddy is. Entries close 10am 30 August, 2023. bialetti.co.nz

Tim Finn is taking the songs of Split Enz, Crowded House and his solo material back on the road. We talk to him ahead of his Christchurch show. You’ve got a huge catalogue of songs to choose from – how was it coming up with a set list? I had done a one-off show in Manly towards the end of last year. For the first time I played the songs in the order they had been written. It started in 1977 with ‘My Mistake’ but I only got as far as the early ‘90s before it seemed the right length. I’ve added in a few extras for this tour, but again, it’s chronological. It somehow suits my natural theatrical bent to play all these characters and go through the years with them again. It’s probably the closest I’ll get to re-living my life.  Are you looking forward to being back on...

Fans of live comedy, get ready for a slew of international and local talent bringing the laughs to Christchurch over the next few months. From the UK comes Kevin Bridges, Bill Bailey and Russell Howard; from the US, Iliza Shlesinger; and from Australia, Carl Barron. The 7 Days team swoops in for a live show, and Christchurch’s Jo Prendergast unleashes the dodgy parenting advice of her alter ego, Jo Ghastly. Meanwhile, don’t forget the locals at Good Times Comedy Club and The Court Theatre’s Scared Scriptless, bringing you the laughs since ages ago. Time to get your diary out and mark these dates: 7 Days Live Host Jeremy Corbett leads a cast of comedians in an evening of stand-up followed by a no-holds barred version of 7 Days, live and uncut. Christchurch Town Hall, Fri 1 September. Iliza: Hard Feelings Tour American comedian, actor and television host Iliza Shlesinger has made a name...

A contemporary retelling of Béla Bartók’s operatic masterpiece Bluebeard’s Castle that presents the opera as a love story between a long-married couple living with dementia will take to the Christchurch Town Hall stage on Saturday. British dramatic soprano Susan Bullock and American dramatic baritone Lester Lynch will perform, alongside the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Dutch-Maltese conductor Lawrence Renes, highly regarded for his ability to balance orchestra and singers and for delivering performances of passion, nuance and style. Composer Béla Bartók’s only opera, this award-winning and innovative revival of Bluebeard’s Castle from Theatre of Sound (UK) premiered in London in 2021 to universal praise. Susan Bullock is the first soprano to sing four consecutive cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House under Sir Antonio Pappano. Appearances as Richard Strauss’ Elektra have brought her equal international acclaim. Further career highlights include Liz Stride (Jack the Ripper) for English National Opera; Mother (Greek) for...

North Canterbury winery Black Estate is The Alchemist’s Table Winery Restaurant of the Year in the 2023 Cuisine Good Food Awards. Also in the South Island, Amisfield, in Queenstown, is again the American Express Restaurant of the Year and has been awarded a 3-hat status, signifying it to be “extraordinary and approaching perfection”. The Cuisine Good Food Awards, the annual industry celebration regarded as the country's pre-eminent hospitality awards, this week announced 18 category winners and 84 Hatted restaurants. The exceptional restaurants which took home “hats” – either 3, 2 or 1 – have been named as the best in Aotearoa New Zealand. Similarly, those establishments and industry players who took home category wins are those considered to be the leaders of their craft. Dining at Amisfield is described by the judges as “magical, entertaining and memorable”. The restaurant is led by former Cuisine Chef of the Year Vaughan Mabee, who,...

Tyson Campbell has kicked off his three-year tenure as SCAPE’s new managing curator with a lineup of eight artists handpicked to bring a new perspective to the 25-year-old festival of public art in central Ōtautahi Christchurch. Tyson, a curator and artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, has worked in grassroots and institutional contemporary art settings. His work focuses on how the clash that can occur between indigenous ways of knowing and the approach of institutions can be resolved through respectful communication. “I chose these artists because their practices have a new perspective and are tied to power and place,” Tyson says. “They each provide compelling autobiographical narratives of how art can be presented in public.” The festival, which opens on 25 November and runs for 12 weeks, includes several multi-disciplinary artists: Tāmaki Makarau-based Denise Porter-Howland, who works primarily with ceramics.Susu, a Taiwanese artist also living in Auckland who produces interdisciplinary works in digital...

The New Zealand International Film Festival, a highlight of the cultural calendar, arrives in Ōtautahi Christchurch this week. Across its 18 days, the festival will show 78 feature-length films and 7 short film collections from 21 countries. That’s a lot of screen time! To help you with your choices, the festival’s Head of Programming, Michael McDonnell, has highlighted 10 hidden gems you may otherwise miss. Anselm 3D An immersive documentary portrait of German artist Anselm Keifer from another German master, Wim Wenders. The film offers viewers a highly accessible three-dimensional view of Keifer’s amazing sculptural works and insight into his artistic process. Charcoal An unexpectedly twisty crime thriller from Brazil in which a poor rural family agree to hide a drug lord in their small farm in return for a wad of cash. Just when you think you know where it’s going, Carolina Markowicz’s debut film pulls the rug out from...

After six weeks with the renovators in, the wraps come off the new look at The George and 50 Bistro on Friday 4 August. And three events in the next few months give you plenty of excuses to go and check out the changes. The new exterior cuts a stylish figure on Park Terrace, and there’s a few upgrades inside for 50 Bistro and the accommodation rooms. Taking pride of place is a beautifully refinished bar made of recycled rimu. The timber came from buildings destroyed in the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.   The George’s accommodation rooms now have walk-in tiled showers. A new corridor carpet has a design reminiscent of a Colin McCahon painting and represents the braided rivers, plains and crop fields of Canterbury.  EVENTS In collaboration with WORD Christchurch, enjoy high tea with chef and food writer Sam Mannering. The menu will feature some of Sam's own...

The bite of winter drives us to indoor hobbies such as knitting and needlework, and that can be satisfying for some. Here at Cityscape, though, we like to mix it up. Which is why we love poetry. You can read and enjoy it curled up in your favourite armchair. Or you can go out and see poets deliver their lines live and direct. You can even have a go yourself. Now that’s gonna warm you up! From the poets who launched their careers with Denis Glover’s Caxton Press in the 1930s to stalwarts Frankie McMillan and James Norcliffe and a new generation represented by Claudia Jardine, Ōtautahi Christchurch has been a major force in the development of our national voice. The common rooms, coffee houses and private soirées that were once the venues have been augmented by the likes of Space Academy and Little Andromeda. Poets and stand-up comedians mingle on...

You know the drill – one book for the rest of your life, what will it be? Cityscape puts the question to a panel of people chosen for their love of books. Mary Sangster, University Bookshop Canterbury : I have three books that I would like to take to a desert island, but forced to choose only one, it would be my beloved Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This book has it all. Stories to entertain me in the comedies and romances. The tragedies evoke emotion and throughout the whole book I’m given a history lesson. Being play scripts makes it easier for my imagination to conjure up full personas for the characters. And then there’s the poetry – fantastic! On my desert island I can recite the soliloquies to my heart’s content, keeping my brain active at the same time. After all this effort maintaining my education, reading entertaining tales...

Books to read, television to bingewatch, music to dance to and podcasts to fill your spare time this August. Bingewatching The Chosen One : Bear with us – it’s better than it sounds. 12-year-old Jodie discovers he has Jesus-like powers. Everyone wants a slice but all Jodie wants is to impress his girlfriend and smack down his bullies. Based on the comic book series American Jesus by Mark Millar and Peter Gross, this six-part series captures that Stranger Things mix of horror and coming-of-age. Barry : If you like your comedy dark, this one’s for you. A killer for hire takes an acting class during a hit and gets a glimpse of a life without death – other people’s, that is. Lots of laughs but also plenty to ponder in a series that explores themes of toxic masculinity, abuse and the difficulties veterans can have reintegrating into society. Jury Duty :...