Review: Synthony at Spark Arena - the biggest show Auckland has seen for three years

Saxophonist Lewis McCallum on stage at Synthony. Photo / Max Burgess

Missed dancing the night away in the club over the past few years of Covid-19 lockdowns? So did more than 9000 Kiwis who gathered at Spark Arena last weekend for the biggest party Auckland has seen since the pandemic began.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Synthony, which promised us the best dance tracks of all time against the backdrop of a live orchestra.

ZM's Clint Roberts, the MC of the night, told us that it was the biggest show Synthony had ever put on after being postponed twice. Not only that, it was the biggest show Auckland had seen in the past three years.

Over the past four years, the show went from one sold-out Auckland show to yearly nationwide tours, as well as an Australian tour in 2021. And as Spark Arena began to fill up on Saturday night, I soon realised why.

Synthony started with a classical intro played by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and then turned Spark Arena into Auckland's biggest nightclub, blasting all our favourite dance tracks from the past 30 years from the likes of Calvin Harris to Avicii.

Orchestra, vocalists, and DJs mixed with a visually stunning light show that transported us to a time before the pandemic. I won't pretend the words "superspreader event" weren't at the back of my mind - but for a moment everyone seemed to forget we were in the middle of a Covid-19 outbreak.

Synthony drew a crowd of more than 9000 people to Spark Arena. Photo / Max Burgess

Think dance floor at a family wedding. Think going to a rave with your mum and all your mum's drunk friends.

I say this because at one point Roberts asked the crowd to put their hands up if they had babysitters looking after the kids at home. I did not have a babysitter at home, but it looked like all the mums and dads of Auckland did - and they were having the time of their lives.

It was impossible not to get up and dance to tracks like ABBA's Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and The Killers' Mr Brightside while shouting the lyrics. And if you thought dance anthems couldn't be played on saxophone, Lewis McCallum turned up to prove us wrong.

Westlake Boys' High School students perform a haka on stage. Photo / Max Burgess

Another standout was the poignant moment a group of students from Westlake Boys' High School took to the stage to perform a haka to the iconic waiata Kotahitanga. The applause was deafening.

Synthony is well and truly worth seeing, if only to see what it's all about. A few days later, I'm still trying to figure it out - proving that it's the kind of show that's impossible to forget.