The Wine Cellar

This is my absolute favourite location for live music. Such an intimate space - the array of couches surrounding the performance area give a really inviting and personal live music experience. Pretty much all of my life epiphanies have occured while listening to amazing live acts in the back room at The Wine Cellar.

This bar is totally unassuming - even the entrance is a bit out of the way and modestly noted. The feijoa cider was delicious, and the seating areas are rad. We spent most of our time in the ‘outside’ area which looks like a dark alley and is both skeezy and totally wonderful. Quiet enough to chat, this was an excellent place to finish off a night out in town.

The environment in this prohibition style basement bar is great. It has a raw and trendy feel to it as soon as you step inside. The main bar has a stark and industrial base, plastered with quirky posters for gigs and bands. Tattoos seem to be a requisite of employment, as does a friendly, but les et faire attitude to service. The performance area is what makes this place though…  Odd mis-matched couches, scuffed old Persian rugs and vintage lampshades create an ambience that’s comfy and a little grimy - In the best sense of the word.  I saw Randa perform here for 95bFM bStreet and she was amazing. So talented and cool and weird. They support a lot of emerging artists, so you’re bound to see something interesting here. Entry is cheap to free and drinks are reasonable. Great for a night out on the weekend or just for a drink and a catch up on weekdays/early on weekends. Pull up a couch!

The Gun Slinger's Ball is like prom, for alty, folky types. This Saturday 27th April, it's where I'll be! Bernie Griffen & the Grifters  The Grifters continue doing what they do best - heartfelt songs of love, loss and redemption.  The Broadsides w/ Tami Neilson  Described variously as 'a four-ring circus of shifting genres' and 'so infectious that that the World Health Organisation has been putting venues into quarantine', The Broadsides have been tearing it up with their banjos and fiddles set to punky bluegrass for four years now.  D Burmester & the Blind  D Burmester and the Blind mine a rich seam of the kind of raucous foot stompin' country chaos that is seldom seen outside the Appalachian foothills. John the Baptist  With a capital city take on what can only be described as the sound of 'two gold miners having a pash', JTB have been bringing their firebrand version of folk to the folk since 2009.

“Grand Ole Hayride" brings you the top 3 finalists of the APRA and New Zealand Music Awards 2012 to show you why they’re regarded as the best in the alt-country game. Tami Neilson, Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams (joined by multi-instrumentalist Dave Khan) will be performing in a collaborative performance bound to turn even the most hard-hearted country naysayer into a convert. Here’s what the critics are saying: “...comfortable in their craft and steeped in the traditions of storytelling and Americana. It'd take a cold, cold heart to ignore the pitch perfect performances, melodic ache and mad joy that is played out here...country music that continues to prove it's worth in the modern music environment.” “Alarmingly good.” WHEN Wednesday 27/03/2013 9.00PM-Late COST $15 earlybird tickets through Eventfinder.

Performing and recording under the moniker The Microphones (1997-2002) and as Mount Eerie from 2003 onwards, you’d be mad to miss Phil Elverum if you’re a fan of dreamy indie soundscapists. The venue is going to be tight, but well worth it. Get in early to nab the coveted couches!