Nestled in beautiful Tapapakanga Park Splore festival became annual for the first time this year, and it seems the move was a very successful one, write Lydia Jenkins and Rachel Bache.

Grohl remains one of the best front men in the business - someone that can crack up the crowd just by raising an eyebrow.

Deutsche Grammophon must be very happy to have Grigory Sokolov in its stable. The Russian came to the notice of the world in 1966, winning the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition at only 16.

How do you like to kill your zombies? These days, there's an answer for everyone. Arcade splatter fest?

Early on in Eddie Izzard's performance, one of two in Auckland before his 26-country Force Majeur tour returns him to the UK, there was the matter of the pesky fly.

This 33-year old Americana/alt. country singer who played the Tuning Fork last year with his new band has a road-hardened, bourbon'n'catarrh voice which belies his years.

The Foos have given a lot of love to New Zealand over the past 20 years. Chris Schulz examines the proof.

Is it an album, or is it a mixtape? That's the big question surrounding this surprise weekend release from Drake, the Canadian rapper due in New Zealand for the first time this Monday.

I see TV3's out looking for that damned elusive X factor again. The search might go on forever, but it'll never really be about who wins. It'll always be about the judges.

Auckland Theatre Company's season-opening comedy this year is a black slapstick that crowds in some favourite old gags - you know before they begin how they're going to turn out, but the comfortable....

A day after seeing Thriller Live at Auckland's Civic Theatre, I'm still trying to work out what exactly it is.

Those of you familiar with the X-Factor format will know it runs on a pretty basic formula.

The brilliantly inventive stagecraft energises a uniformly excellent cast who bring a clear sense of purpose to the smallest details of their performances.

Here's the thing you notice first: they all look so young. These are kids, you think to yourself, what the hell are they doing dressed up as soldiers charging with fixed bayonets up a hill into enemy fire?

Stories about shocking pink taffeta ballgowns, drinking Baileys at the Open Late Café and seeing Dave Dobbyn at the Gluepot; this audio tour shamelessly mythologises Ponsonby in the 1980s.

The artworks of Michael Parekowhai grace many city venues, but their beauties and ironies are silent.

If there was a missing link between 60s girl groups, California surf-pop, 90s skater rock and Taylor Swift's assertive pop-sassiness it might be this lo-fi band helmed by singer-guitarist Melissa Brooks from Southern California.

Back in 1998, there was one game that ruled them all. With its stellar storytelling and twisted sense of humour, Grim Fandango soon overpowered Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Day of the Tentacle as every budding adventurer's game of choice.

Recently, guitarist Chris Eldridge said Punch Brothers wanted people to make time for this album and peel back its layers. Indeed.

Bob Odenkirk nails it as hapless hero Saul Goodman in Better Call Saul.

As a setting for Shakespeare it would be hard to beat the café balcony of the historic Pah Homestead.

In the relentless search for new and challenging viewing experiences, I turned to Good Morning, a television show with one of those titles that says it all.

Local playwright Victor Rodger has followed up last year's revival (Sons) and premiere (At the Wake) with a new play that brings a light touch to tragedy.

Michele Hewitson writes: Aside from the infuriating filler games, Our First Home is hokey and insincere and has more holes in it than the floorboards in the crappy do-ups on offer.

The media and public fascination with Stephen Hawking has, it seems to me, always been driven by a mixture of infantilising sentimentalism and morbid curiosity.

Given the civil rights subject matter, the greatness of Martin Luther King as the man at the centre of the story, and relevance today it's surprising Selma isn't a bigger, flashier film.