MOTAT's Christmas Lights are back. Get festive fairy lights and activities. Photo / Connor Crawford
Your guide to what to do this weekend in Auckland, and what to plan ahead for.
Classical music fans with Saturday evening open should promptly secure tickets to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s performance of Mahler 5 at the Town Hall. Giordano Bellincampi is holding the conductor’s baton for the evening, which includes Wagner’s Rienzi Overture and Tristan and Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod. The APO will be joined by members of the Australian National Academy of Music to form a very large orchestra, ideal for creating the expansive range of emotion from despair to jubilation that Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is renowned for.
Saturday, November 11, 7.30pm. Auckland Town Hall, Queen St, Auckland. Tickets start at $40 + booking fees from aucklandphil.nz/mahler5 or ticketmaster.co.nz
It’s been a year since Grammy Award-winning music producer Joel Little opened music studio and artist development initiative Big Fan, and it is celebrating with an open day and live concert. Anyone interested in working in the music biz should get themselves down to Big Fan to check out the studios and facilities and get a better understanding of the programmes on offer. And anyone who loves live music should get tickets to see up-and-coming local artists WHO SHOT SCOTT, Fable and Crystal perform in Big Fan’s live music space on Saturday night.
Open Day: Saturday, November 11, 10am-1pm. Big Fan, 25 McDonald St, Morningside, Auckland. FREE.
WHO SHOT SCOTT, Fable & Crystal: Saturday, November 11, 8pm. Big Fan, 25 McDonald St, Morningside, Auckland. Tickets $20 + booking fee from undertheradar.co.nz
Your art fix this weekend comes from one of Aotearoa’s most beloved fashion icons, Liz Mitchell (MNZM). This Raw Material is an exhibition at the Homestead Galleries at Corban Estate Arts Centre that showcases the contemporary wool craft and bespoke creations of Mitchell, who has become a passionate advocate for the widespread use of wool not just in clothing but in our homes and architecture. With the exhibit, Mitchell pays tribute to wool as “a regenerative, sustainable, non-allergenic, biodegradable, versatile, abundant, creative, and life-enhancing raw material”.
Now until December 9 (Monday to Saturday). Corban Estate Arts Centre, 2 Mount Lebanon Lane, Henderson, Auckland. FREE.
Big Fan is not the only music hub holding an open day this weekend — the NZ Opera is flinging open its doors and welcoming curious Kiwis too. Located in Parnell, visitors have the opportunity to peek inside the wardrobe and set departments where pieces from The Unruly Tourists, Cosi fan tutte and (m)Orpheus are kept. There’s also a vocal masterclass with director Brad Cohen and a sing-along session with members of the NZ Opera chorus where you’ll learn and perform well-known operatic choruses. Whether you’re a songbird or more a screeching cat, all are welcome to join in.
Saturday, November 11, 10am-1pm (Vocal Mastery, 11am-12pm; sing-along session noon-1pm). 5/69 St George’s Bay Rd, Parnell, Auckland. FREE.
Ever thought: “One day I might get a tattoo”? Well, one day has arrived because Sunday at QT Auckland’s Rooftop bar you can get a tattoo for just $100, with all the proceeds from the day’s tattooing going to the Movember charity. And before you go thinking “I don’t want a tattoo from some cheap dial-a-tatt charlatan,” Australian tattoo artist Lauren Winzer, who has tattooed Miley Cyrus and Post Malone among other celebs, will be there, along with our own tattoo talents Trident of Tri-lines Ponsonby and Evander. And even if you don’t want to get inked, there are lots of other good reasons to get you down to QT for this good cause. Mitcher’s cocktails and Jo Bro’s Burgers are on the menu, Jupiter Project is on the decks, there’s a moustache grooming station by Triumph & Disaster, a competition for the “Dirtiest ‘Tache” and the opportunity to raise loads of money for men’s health this Movember.
Sunday, November 12, 1pm-8pm. QT Auckland, 4 Viaduct Harbour Avenue, Westhaven, Auckland. Free entry.
Smash out your Christmas shopping this weekend at the General Collective Lifestyle and Design Market: Christmas Edition and you can crown yourself an ethical, environmentally conscious, local business warrior. At Auckland Showgrounds there will be more than 200 talented local designers and makers selling their wares, from jewellery to art to skincare to homewares and more. An eclectic selection of food trucks will be on site to help keep your festive spirits high while you peruse the Pavilions for creative, locally made treasures for your loved ones and/or whoever you drew for the office Secret Santa.
Sunday, November 12, 9am-3pm. Auckland Showgrounds, Pavilion 3 & 4, 217 Greenlane Rd West, Epsom, Auckland. Tickets $5, children under 12 free, from iticket.co.nz
Comedy often comes from the darkest of places and that’s certainly true for Emma Lange who opens her solo comedy theatre show about her experience with a brain tumour next week. Lange had a large part of her brain removed following her diagnosis in 2016 but thankfully, it wasn’t the part that contained her sense of humour. Her show, An Almighty Yes, is an uplifting 60 minutes of comedy, music and dancing sausages that proves no matter how hard the challenge is, you can always find positivity and optimism if you know how to look for it.
November 14-18, 6.30pm. Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Avenue, Auckland CBD. Tickets are on a “Choose What You Pay” basis, starting at $8 from basementtheatre.co.nz or iticket.co.nz
The MOTAT Christmas Lights is consistently the most festive and charming pre-Christmas event in Tāmaki Makaurau, and is why you need to book early and get there even earlier (if you want a carpark within cooey of the museum). The whole place twinkles with fairy lights and there are food trucks, live music, carolers, tram rides and a roaming Santa. It’s a bit of a late night for the littlest ones, but the next-day crankiness is worth it for this once-a-year magical experience. It’s cheap as chips and will sell out — don’t say we didn’t warn you.
December 6-23, Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8pm-11pm. MOTAT, 805 Great North Rd, Western Springs, Auckland. Tickets $5 adult, $2 child from motat.nz
On Thursday, the silly season kicks it up a notch with the opening night of Dirty Laundry by the Briefs boys. It’s circus, it’s drag, it’s dance, it’s burlesque, it’s music, it’s comedy and it’s unbridled joie de vivre in one evening’s entertainment. From Briefs Factory, an Australian creative collective who’ve sold out festivals all around the world, Dirty Laundry is sometimes referred to as boylesque or party-cabaret. Whatever you call it, it’s a guaranteed good night out. Running in conjunction with Dirty Laundry, Q Theatre has opened an underground function space called The Laundromat so you can also book in a pre or post-show soiree for friends, colleagues or whoever you want to party with.
November 16-December 9. Q Theatre, 305 Queen St, Auckland CBD. Tickets $55-$85 + booking fee from qtheatre.co.nz
Two decades on, the surviving members of McKenzie Watch gather for their annual reunion.