Concert Review - The Jungle Giants - Auckland - 2nd May 2025

Presented By Amplifire, Select Music & Tripple J

The Jungle Giants Live in Auckland - Photo Credit Leoni Moreland (Red Raven News)

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL JUNGLE GIANTS GALLERY BY LEONI MORELAND

The Jungle Giants - Auckland - 2nd May 2025

Review By: Leeza E

Artist/Band: The Jungle Giants Support by PARK RD

Venue/City: Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand

Date of Event:Friday 2nd May 2025

The Jungle Giants are here in New Zealand (NZ), as part of their Australasian ‘Hold My Hand’ single release Tour. They've been away for two years, so we've all been looking forward to this!

First up was indie/ rock/ pop, special guest band, Park Rd, an ‘up and coming’ five-piece Auckland based band; with a tight, clean, impressive upbeat sound, vibing naturally together on stage as one through each number like they were born to do this. The drummer Te Kapua Pene had a T-shirt fastened to one of his toms, probably held in position with some good ol’ solid duck-tape. Rock on baby. Excellent drummer! They're great live and on album, sounding pretty much exact, except; live they interact with their audience and are obviously enjoying themselves and where they shine. Was that a bunch of feathers or fur on the top of both of the guitarist Leo's shoes?

Anyway, these ‘old’ school friends went on to play at many festivals and venues across Australia and New Zealand and last night at The Powerstation they totally delivered and totally rocked it; and obviously loved it just as much as the young lively crowd did. These boys really are very good!

They ‘get into it’ right there and right then, with the fantastic stage lights enhancing them, as they play and harmonise and enjoy the sounds that they produce. I loved the heavy bass, it just fits, which is accompanied by wicked guitar riffs, as they easily and casually grooved the indie rock/ pop their way through each cool original song, often chatting to the crowd in between it all.
PARK RD released their debut album in 2024 and also released an excellent new single ‘English Boy’, in 2024.
Good one boys! Most awesome! A perfect band to kick the show off with and fits well with The Jungle Giants! It was a frikn’ pleasure to watch you perform!! Park Rd is Tom Chamberlain – Vocals, Angus Hampton-Carr - lead guitar, Leo Craw-shaw - Guitar, Vocals, Carlos Martin – Bass, Te Kapua Pene – Drums.

The Jungle Giants; these guys are so, so super cool! They hit the stage with a thumping first number, which ended with loud cheers and a racket from the full house. The crowd clearly loved them from the start, right to the finish!

They're a band from Brisbane, Australia, with a blend of cool grooves, R&B, pop and indie roots. You just wanna keep enjoying that awesome, positive energy, positive lyrics and positive vibe of theirs. There were people young and not so young all over the joint, just grooving. This lot clearly love performing together and really dig the stage. They are terrific live; Andrew jumped around and ran about while playing some pretty solid, really heavy bass riffs. Cesira swapped out an electric guitar on one song, electric acoustic guitar on another song. Sam captivated his audience; often holding the mic out for the people to sing the lines that they all seemed to know (of every song). He held a girl's hand while singing ‘Hold My Hand’, and kept our attention with his cool demure, and his clear and very good vocals and the drummer just kept a good beat through the entire shebang,

This four-piece ensemble of friends have spent the last ten years playing together and while they're at it, travelling the world and playing at major festivals, with three albums and one EP to show for it.

They return to New Zealand after a two-year absence, which Sam mentioned, also saying that they are ‘happy to be here tonight’; noticing the many hand signal love hearts and referred to really enjoying the cool vibes that the audience were giving off. He then ‘put out’ a song request. They did the first one he heard suggested. Which one was it? I can't recall it, but it was good!
The Jungle Giants come to us here in NZ with their first song release in over a year, that song being ‘Hold My Hand’, with a fifth album hot on its tail.

The Jungle Giants have recently been on tour all around Aussie and will only play two shows in New Zealand, one at the venue The Powerstation in Auckland on the 2nd May and one in Wellington on the 3rd May at venue Meow nui, with special guests Park Rd on board for both shows.

Honestly, these guys are really bloody good!

The Jungle Giants are: Sam Hales – Vocals /Guitar/ Lead Singer/Songwriter/Producer, Cesira Aitken - Lead guitar, Andrew Dooris - Bass guitar, Keelan Bijker – Drums.

The Jungle Giants 2025 Tour PR - Photo Credit Byron Spencer

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