What's On

American punk band Bad Religion. Photo / Supplied.

POPERA
Initially brought together by music marketing mastermind Simon Cowell, Il Divo blend traditional operatic techniques with popular songs. It seems to have worked for the foursome. Since forming in 2004 the group has sold around 22 million albums worldwide. Their gig at Auckland's Vector Arena on Friday is their first New Zealand performance.
* Il Divo - Vector Arena, Oct 2

HIP-HOP
It's a massive gig for fans of Aotearoa hip-hop and R'n'B tonight. The second Pick It Up youth concert at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre is well and truly star-studded. Perennial favourites like Nesian Mystik, Scribe, Savage and Che Fu meet newcomers like J Williams. The charge of just $10 makes this event accessible to the under-18s it's aimed at.
* Pick It Up youth concert, TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, Manukau, 6pm tonight

CLUBS/DJ
While dance music purists may sneer at the shiny Euro pop-trance of Sweden's Basshunter, that didn't stop Kiwis buying his album in droves and sending it to number one in the album charts. Expect the same fans to be flocking to his Auckland shows next week. Support comes from 3OH!3, a chart-topping Colorado band marrying electronic music, rock and rap to great effect.
* Basshunter, 3OH!3 - TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, Auckland South, Oct 5/6

PUNK
Punk fans will be making a pilgrimage to the Auckland Town Hall to see pioneering American punk rock band Bad Religion play this weekend. With 14 studio albums since 1980, there will be plenty of material to get through, but they will have to leave room for fellow punk legends NOFX, who share the bill with them this Sunday night.
* Bad Religion and NOFX - Auckland Town Hall, Oct 4

METAL
If you have not put your neck out headbanging at Bad Religion on Sunday night, sidestep slightly across the guitar music spectrum on Monday night and enjoy two of the biggest names in metal. Californian bands Slayer and Megadeth have been in action since the 1980s and will have Kiwi fans forgetting it's a Monday in the mosh pit at the Logan Campbell Centre.
* Slayer, Megadeth - Logan Campbell Centre, Oct 5

CLUBS/DJ
They got booties shaking last time they played to a sold-out Kings Arms with French band The Teenagers, and now British purveyors of fine indie electronica, Metronomy, are back in New Zealand for a Tuesday night gig at Toto. Despite a mostly electronic sound, the four-piece do play everything out live these days, and have added a couple of extra members to really bolster the already impressive live experience.
* Metronomy - October 6, Toto/Monte Cristo Rooms, 53 Nelson St

KIDS
The kids are spoilt for choice these school holidays with plenty of children's theatre and entertainment on offer around Auckland and the North Island. What an experience Auckland's Wintergarden at The Civic will be for the kids checking out the Bubbles & Mustard Show, which gets the audience involved in a wacky fictional radio station - this can only result in good times for all.
* The Bubbles & Mustard Show - Wintergarden at The Civic, Oct 5-10

KIDS
Straight out of Motueka, and making big claims (New Zealand's answer to The Wiggles they reckon - the Funky Monkeys might have something to say on that), Gerry and The Crocodettes are on a North Island tour coinciding with school holidays. Stopping into West Auckland's leafy Titirangi this Tuesday, expect these up-and-coming children's entertainers to perform tunes like Boogie Woogie, Jivey Jiggle, We're Aliens and Crocodette Rock.
* Gerry and The Crocodettes - Titirangi Theatre, Oct 6, thecrocodettes.com for more