Concert Review - Steve Poltz - Hawke's Bay - 26th March 2026
Photo credit Jay Blakesberg
Presented by The Small Hall Sessions
Review By: Rob Harbers
Event: Steve Poltz
Venue/City: King George Hall, Bay View, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
Date of Event: Thursday 26th March 2026The latest iteration of the famed Small Hall Sessions brings renowned American troubadour Steve Poltz to the tiny venues of Te-Matau-a-Māui. From sold-out shows across Australia, to an intensely intimate gathering in the seaside community of Bay View, this is a man who’s seen it all!
It’s becoming something of a cliché, when talking of the Small Halls experience, to reach for synonyms for ‘enraptured’, but there’s no better way to describe the reception, from the first minute. Given Steve’s reputation for verbosity, it was somewhat ironic for the first piece to be an instrumental, but this only served to enhance the experience. An ode to Balkan precipitation followed, before the not-so-local guitar picker got his guitar playing thumb set to work at a frantic pace, with the song for which he won a Grammy, with Molly Tuttle. This led into a lengthy story (a bit of a recurring theme tonight) encompassing potentially unlicensed reconstructive surgery, duets with Rickie Lee Jones, gig bookings made under misunderstood pretenses, and various other subjects, capped off with a touching impromptu musical endorsement of gallery owner Lizzie, who was in the audience tonight.
Petrichor, off the new album, came on like a rainstorm, discussing the joys of pluvial aromas, while simultaneously venturing to the edge of the stage — proving that it’s not just Aerosmith with a liking for Living On the Edge! A Brief History of My Life skimmed over the events that conspired to weave the strands of a life together to where they now stand, an obvious highlight of which was an encounter with the Man from Tupelo himself, Mr Elvis Presley. An unexpected treat for a 9-year-old, one that clearly made a big impression on a nascent mind. It certainly inspired him to play and practise guitar, at any rate. And without the result of that, why would we be here tonight? Consistent with the by now expected rambling and wide-ranging nature of Steve’s anecdotes, the one accompanying this song stretched so far as to include a warning against, and description of the methods employed by, phone scam operators. So not only were we getting greatly entertained, we were also receiving PSAs. What a man indeed!
Following the intermission, Steve came bounding back ready for much more, heading straight into Back In My Arms Again. This was followed by the melancholic Deep River Blues, another title that was to prove to be somewhat predictive, given that the next song saw him leave the stage to come down and wind through the audience, in a very riparian fashion. The nomadic sojourn lasted for about three songs, one of the highlights being Wrong Town, the song written on the spot to lead out his inaugural appearance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Very meta in its lyrical content, a description of, and introduction to, Steve’s oeuvre. This bout of peregrination, which eventually concluded with him leading some of the audience, Pied Piper-like, on a run around the hall(!), also encompassed a duet, first with wife Sharon and then with the audience on In Spite of Ourselves. A set of words you may not ever hear strung together again, more’s the pity!
Having returned to his rightfully elevated position, the next monologue urged us all to develop a habit of creativity, starting with the writing of a daily poem, eventually to lead who knows where? Perhaps one of us might even end up writing a song, maybe one that becomes a hit, in the way that the next song, written by Steve, You Were Meant For Me, was carried by its singer (Jewel) to over 15 million sales! One can but try.
After winding his way through a rendition of Romanza, a tune that carried him back to his first ever concert attendance, an appearance by Julian Bream at the Hollywood Bowl, one that instilled in him a life-long appreciation of classical guitar, the night concluded with a cover of Kermit’s (the frog, no less) Rainbow Connection. It turned into a call for revolution, a gentle one, in a way that I can’t imagine would’ve been imagined when it was originally composed!
And that was our lot, a performance shot through with a spirit of genuine warm-heartedness, one to leave smiles on dials all around the Hall. Truly uplifting, and greatly entertaining, and an experience that can be enjoyed tonight in Clive, or on Saturday at Wellington’s Meow — get your tickets now!
Steve Poltz Small Hall Session NZ Tour PR 2026