Concert Review - Scott Cook & Pamela Mae - Hawke's Bay - 4th February 2026
Presented By Small Hall Sessions
Scott Cook & Pamela Mae - photo provided
Review By: Rob Harbers
Event: Scott Cook & Pamela Mae
Venue/City: Christ's Chapel, Pukehou, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
Date of Event: Wednesday 4th February 2026
Honesty – some 50-odd years ago a guy was all over the airwaves telling us all about it being such a lonely word. But the essential message of that song rings still more true – it’s what’s needed most certainly in these times! Thankfully it’s something that was in plentiful supply in the Pukehou Chapel tonight, as Scott Cook and Pamela Mae brought their songs of hope and joy to an appreciative audience.
Kicking off with an impromptu acapella song from Scott, complete with audience participation as he strolled down the aisle of the venerable building, it quickly became obvious what we were about to experience – songs that ring out clear and true, with deep emotional roots that connect people where they’re at. As a manifesto, the chorus of this first song, It’s Dreaming That Keeps You Alive is not at all a bad one to live by, and this optimistic take was to be reinforced through the rest of the night – one that felt far less like a performance than it did an intimate time up close and personal with two performers welcoming us into their company, to sit and share the air for a while. And that’s the Small Halls ethos in a nutshell.
Pass it Along, with its theme of recognition of one’s place in the chain of time, and connection with eternity, served as a grounding exercise, a call to step back from a culture of exploitation, to accept that whatever we have is just ours for a short while – so how about we look after it, for the next person to benefit from? If He Showed Up Now and Say Can You See carried the spirit of a 21st-century Woody Guthrie, challenging those who would hold themselves apart from, or above, the rest of humanity, inviting re-evaluation of priorities, perhaps.
Scott’s introduction of ‘trying to always include one song not written by me’ involved just a short journey to the source of that song, that being by Pamela – an ode to her dearly loved grandma, which saw her put down her double bass and take up the banjo, for a brief change in the acoustic palette. Closing out this first half of the set was Marathon, the tale of a coast-to-coast excursion across Canada, relaying the adventure in a manner that called to mind James Taylor. And then it was intermission. The intrepid were tempted outside by the faint possibility of seeing native bats from the resident colony, but this failed to materialise, disappointingly.
Back into it with the extremely wordy Troubadourly, an exposition, in 1200 words and change, of Scott’s backstory – how he came to be where he is today. This is a new song, from the new album due to be released when he finishes putting together the liner notes for the package – quite a lengthy exercise, looking at recent releases! I mean, the last one has a 240-page book of expository material.
Something In My Eyes, an ode to the power of love, and the first song co-written by Scott and Pamela, will also be on the new album, boding well for its release. Scott detailed the motivation inherent in his promise to Patreon subscribers to deliver a new song every month, or else their subs are free for the month, and introduced a few songs as having been the result of such a genesis. Among them was Cheap, Fast and Good, a callback to the ancient wisdom of having to choose two of these options, because you ain’t gonna get all three!
Frankie told the tale of Scott’s six years teaching kindergarten in Taiwan – an experience that was initially only planned to be for six months, until he found himself drawn into it. Staking a spot as Adam McGrath’s brother from another mother, We’re Going to Need A Bigger Tent, introduced by Scott as ‘the closest thing to a political programme, was a call towards unity, away from division, delivered in the wordy style by now associated with this material. These are songs that pack a lot in, not in any negative way – there’s a lot to say and only so long of a song to say it in! The same spirit of inclusiveness that animates these lyrics carried through to the main set closer, Something To Do With Love, its optimistic refrain being ‘Don’t know why this life feels like a question, but if it’s got an answer, it must be something to do with love’ – a fine answer indeed. Maybe the world really does need love, sweet love – it would be worth a try, anyway!
After an encore that was a tribute to the power and joy of the carnival, it was all over for another round, to be repeated twice over in Ongaonga and Twyford over the next couple of nights – and you really should get along if you can. Songs of redemption, hope and joy, maintenance for the inner hope machine – and who can say they don’t need that?
The Small Hall Sessions