A Wednesday night at The Civic that ran well past midnight. The Hasselhoff Experiment opened; Brian Jonestown Massacre headlined. Between them, a full evening of music from opposite ends of the underground rock spectrum.
Brian Jonestown Massacre
The Brian Jonestown Massacre took their time getting to the stage, but stayed until nearly 1:30am, which felt like fair trade. Anton Newcombe spent much of the set to the side, leaving Joel Gion out front — tambourine in hand, holding the room together with the confidence of someone who has done this a thousand times. A couple of guitarists, a laidback keyboardist, and a livewire drummer filled out the sound, alongside bassist Will Carruthers, whose résumé includes Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized. The set built atmosphere slowly: cool, hypnotic keys underpinning those signature reverberant guitar lines that drift and sustain rather than resolve. An epic set in the truest sense — long, patient, unhurried, and worth the wait.
the Hasselhoff Experiment
The Wellington garage-punk duo opened the night on a high. Tolly and Moran played like they’d never been away — tight, fast, running through old songs with the kind of easy authority that only comes from having played them together for years. For a band that had been apart for two decades, the reunion showed no sign of rust. A strong set that warmed up the room well ahead of the headline act.
