Concert Review - Sola Rosa - Hawke's Bay - 23rd May 2026

Presented By Small Hall Sessions

Sola Rosa - Photo Credit Tom Grut

Review By: Rob Harbers

Artist/Band: Sola Rosa

Venue/City: Puketapu Community Hall, Hawke’s Bay

Date of Event: 23rd May 2026

The visit of Sola Rosa to the Puketapu Hall in support of newest album, In The Mids, saw the usually placid and chill vibe of the Small Hall Sessions transformed into something more akin to a nightclub, attracting a heap of new faces.

Providing local support was, firstly, Scarlett Eden, whose brand of 808-heavy urban sounds went down very well. If I’m brutally honest, not entirely my cup of tea, but I was quite clearly in the minority with this view, so probably not hugely qualified to comment. In any case, it was obviously hitting the right points with the target audience, and that’s all you need, ain’t it?

Serving double duty as Scarlett’s backing musician and the interim act between her and the headliner was DJ Sneeky, who rose admirably to the challenge of keeping the vibe going.
Storming in quickly with the title track from the new album, Sola Rosa, in the form of principal creative force Andrew Spraggon, didn’t drop the vibe at all. To a visual backdrop of soundwave patterns, the powerful and dynamic track served notice that here was some serious talent about to come through — which it did for the next 90-odd minutes.

Following this instrumental statement of intent, vocalist Wallace came on to flesh out the material, firstly with the new song Like A Light In The Dark, a subtly expressed paean to the power of connection. Quite literally, with the repeated motif of “It feels like electricity”!

Humanise, from 2009’s Get It Together, rings at least as true 17 years later, perhaps even more so given recent refinements in the art of punching down, as demonstrated by the political classes. The theme of ‘I don’t know whether you realise, before you get your respect, you got to get humanised’ is something of a double-edged sword.

The soulfully seductive vibes of Have it All kept the mood going and the dancefloor full, while emphasising just how different an experience this was from the established Small Halls format, in which the emphasis is more on respectful contemplation and pin-drop intimacy between performer and audience, with dancing space almost an afterthought. Whereas tonight it was all about the dancefloor! As is only appropriate with a performance such as this, one that introduced the Sessions to a much wider audience, hopefully at least some of whom feel the pull to come back for more

Jupiter perhaps best expressed the spirit of many present, with its ‘I’m so high, fill up my cup and let me drink past midnight’ lyric. Unfortunately for them midnight was a step too far, with things wrapping up at a more genteel (this is still a Small Halls Session, after all!) 10pm. But not before a return to the roots of Sola Rosa, Andrew’s question, ‘Should I play some old stuff?’ being enthusiastically answered in the positive, thus kicking off the final pairing of All You Need and Redeemer, the latter of which originally featured a nascent Deva Mahal, for its pushback against consumerism.

Having satisfied the dancing urge for some, but no doubt leaving others wanting more — the mark of a master — the show thus ended. A breaking of new ground for both the Sessions and many audience members, one that could lead to interesting things in the future perhaps (Small (Dance)Hall Sessions, anyone?), and another chapter in the history of NZ Music Month, Te-Matau-A-Māui style!

Setlist

In The Mids
Like A Light
What If
Spinning Top
Humanised
Loveless
Have It All
Losing Time
No Time For Love
How Do You
What You Need
Jupiter
Turn Around
Del Ray
The Sun Doesn’t Shine
Something Good
All You Need
Redeemer

Sola Rosa In The Mids 2026 Tour PR

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