Presented by Metropolis Touring

Electric Six at Auckland’s Tuning Fork - Image Credits Rachel Matthews

Image Credit Rachel Matthews

Review By: Faith Hamblyn

Image Credits to Rachel Matthews

Artist/Band: Electric Six

Venue/City: The Tuning Fork, Auckland

Date of Event: Friday 27th March 2026

On my way to Electric Six tonight, a man sang that he wanted to take me to a gay bar, gay bar, gay bar. While he was heading in the wrong direction, I assumed he would circle back in time for the gig. He was clearly Electric Six people, and while the Tuning Fork doesn't tend to gay and display, I needed to find out why Dick Valentine keeps starting fires.

The crowd were cool, colourful and packed to the rafters. There were rainbow leather men, mulleted metal and punk enthusiasts and fans of the silly. Recorded thunder rumbled and lights flashed, the audience cheered to Electric Six taking the dry-ice-smothered stage.

Synthesizer is a bassy banger, verging on country disco, and Dick delivered it lounge-style, dancing like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. Some guy yelled, ‘I love Dick,’ which needed shouting.

Turquoise is about protecting yourself by wearing turquoise, earnest and camp and definitely full of side eye.

The Hotel Mary Chang sounds like Vincent Price in a terrifying, chilling giallo, but any world-weariness was smashed by the segue into Naked Pictures Of Your Mother. Down At McDonnelzzz had the crowd singing along and dancing – like, first-date-at-a-bar dancing. It’s the sound of retail workers losing their shit, and it's joyous.

The New Shampoo is completely silly. There's something wonderful about people cheering and dancing to a chorus about Commander Wang, and it was an entree to Gay Bar. I saw a guy trying to make the case for dancing like Britney next to his stoic, crossed-arms friend, and it summed up the fun of Electric Six in a lot of ways.

She's White, from Fire,had the audience singing along and doing call-and-response ‘Yeah’s with the band. It suddenly made sense why I'd seen a guy wearing an Earth Tongue T-shirt in the crowd. Camp and rock and Dungeon Visions, oh my.

Randy's Hot Tonight! is Halloween rock, and Future Boys is equally cartoony. Hot Numbers On The Telephone got the couple next to me twerking, which was excellent audienceship. Window Of Time is like They Might Be Giants and wonderfully sardonic.

A guy in front of me in a Dance Commander sleeveless military outfit with sparkles smelled of weed. It lent a certain poignancy to When I Get To The Green Building – why not raise your glass and drink it all?

Future Is The Future was a countdown with a super-hyped crowd, and everyone wanted to dance. I thought the guys in the back of the venue were taking their tops off, but it was just a man putting on his new Electric Six shirt. It had not gone completely crazy yet.

Improper Dancing had proper punk pogo-ing. (Who The Hell Just) Call My Phone? inspired a mosh pit, and then it was time for Danger! High Voltage, led by guitarist Herb S Flavour. The hysteria missing from Jack White not being in was picked up by the audience. There were guys in suits with shades, guys doing David Byrne impressions and the most dramatic theatrical make-up I've seen outside of drag culture.

Moshing to Dance Epidemic, which did sound like disco War Pigs. Bite Me had crowd surfing, and the band sounded like Thin Lizzy in an absurd and rocking mood. The lights stayed down when the band left the stage, the psychedelic backdrop pulsing; they couldn't be finished yet.

Riding On The White Train and Germans In Mexico had the audience singing along and waving their arms ballad-style, but Dance Commander had the whole place dancing and singing like ecstatic fools. Fun, glorious stuff with wild abandon.

Setlist

Synthesizer
Turquoise
Pulling the Plug on the Party
The Hotel Mary Chang
Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother)
Down at McDonnelzzz
The New Shampoo
Gay Bar
Gay Bar Part Two
She's White
Randy's Hot Tonight!
Future Boys
Hot Numbers on the Telephone
Window of Time
When I Get to the Green Building
Future Is in the Future
Improper Dancing
(Who the Hell Just) Call My Phone?
Danger! High Voltage
Lenny Kravitz
Dance Epidemic
I Buy the Drugs
Bite Me