Auckland Has Some of the World's Weirdest Gig Spots

Rising rental costs have made it increasingly difficult for Auckland venues to oprate, leaving fewer places for bands to play. But who needs traditional venues when you could play in a cave? Whammy Bar is good but is it as good as a pirate ship? And dry your tears, Kings Arms may soon be gone but we still have Auckland Stardome and Observatory.

We take a brief look at some of the insane places that Auckland bands have decided to put on gigs.

The great cave at Whatipu has held gigs since 1889 when a dance floor was built inside. This is crazy given that access, even now, involves a 45-minute drive from the central city and then a 30-minute walk. Historian Bruce Harvey, whose father played accordion at the dances, recently described them to RNZ: "[They] were wonderful affairs because the women would dress the whole cave with ferns and ribbons and so on. They'd have supper - they'd have something cooking over a fire."

Dances continued until the 1920s with revellers catching the ferry from Onehunga and often crashing out at the nearby Whatipu lodge. Though the jetty has long since washed away and the dance floor is buried under sand, events have continued with gigs in the 60s, raves in the 90s, and a 2001 'Pirate Fest' which included indie rapper The Sound Laydee and punk bands Roofdog, S.M.D and Missing Teeth.

It's surreal to imagine a popular live venue existing in the sleepy suburb of Milford, but from 1928-1957 – prior to the construction of the harbour bridge – it was home to one of the city's most iconic venues. The stream at Milford (now the marina) turned into a swimming pool at high tide and people would groove in a dancehall shaped as a pirate ship.

The top floors were tearooms and downstairs had a dancehall decorated with cutlasses and antique pistols. An orchestra played while couples danced and out the portholes you could look across to Rangitoto Island bathed in moonlight.

Stationary flatbed trucks make for handy stages but things get trickier when they are in motion and loaded with equipment (note the straps and planks holding Red Hewitt and and The Buccaneers' piano in place above). The Hasselhoff Experiment, had a more hectic experience when the two-piece garage act played on the streets of Orewa for the Havoc TV show. Singer/guitarist Andrew Tolley recalls taking a roundabout and one speaker bouncing destructively off the truck and onto the tarmac, and two musicians, a cameraman and sound person colliding domino style.

During the 80s, The Mockers were part of a run of bands that played at the Rainbow's End amusement park. Guitarist Brett Adams remembers the tween fans squeals drowning out the first song and the audience becoming hysterical when singer Andrew Fagan handed out free cartons of juice. But playing a theme park came with certain perks. "We were given a free all day pass, to ride on anything. I eventually used it with my then girlfriend, about six months later. We must have ridden the rollercoaster 19 times."

In 1999, HDU and their atmospheric drone rock and had scored a high profile slot at the Big Day Out. They leveraged their growing success to take their spacey soundscapes into the most suitable venue imaginable - the stardome at Auckland Observatory. Gary Sullivan played in the support act, Dimmer, and remembers that their new minimal approach was perfectly suited to a star-gazing audience rather than the standard pub crowd: "Playing to a room of drunks often means anything with subtle nuances can disappear."

In 2000, the White Stripes had just released their self-titled debut album and were hardly known outside their hometown. So they were disbelieving when NZ promoter John Baker called to see if they wanted to tour Down Under. Following a run of shows through NZ and Australia, they had a one night stopover in Auckland on their return home. When Baker asked promoter Amber Easby (who'd helped fund the tour), to book one last show she used the central city pizza joint where she'd occasionally put on gigs. As she later told RNZ, "The legal capacity at Pizza Pizza was 60 people … We fit 180 people into that room and there were noise complaints, so even though it was really hot, we had to have the windows closed - everyone sweltering in the heat. People were standing on tables and chairs, anything. Nobody could move. I've seen them play hundreds of times and I think that was still my favourite show."

In 2010, The Mint Chicks played an infamous show inside the tunnels of Devonport's Mt Victoria. Bassist Mike Logie recalls it being complete mayhem, "It was probably the hottest gig I've played because there is not much ventilation in those tunnels. Sweat was dripping from the roof. I spent half the show facing my speakers, protecting my pedals and trying to push the crowd back so they didn't knock me and my amp over."

Noise pop act Golden Axe began their career playing on the street using battery-powered keyboards and amps so when they got gigs at real venues, they just decided to continue this logic - playing outside of Eden's Bar in the back of a Valiant Charger or bringing audience members out to the carpark of the King's Arms, where they'd performed in the back of a van. Keyboardist Chris Cudby remembers the early gigs as an opportunity to reach more people. "Playing on the street was the next step from jamming in our studio and it was an easy and fun way to play live. Plus we didn't know how to book shows." Later shows were more about creating spectacle special environment and this culminated in a series of large scale cardboard sculptures make for album launches and gallery performances. "We played inside giant heads, a smoking igloo wearing a top hat, a gazebo that looked like a duck"'