BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This November: Die! Die! Die!, The Veils, The Phoenix Foundation, Liam Finn, Garageland, John Cale, Wild Things ’07, Nas.


» Die! Die! Die! Thur Nov 1 @ Al’s Bar (Chch)
The Dunedin trio are on a mammoth nationwide tour covering Wellington (2nd & 3rd), Palmerston North (4th), Wanganui (7th), New Plymouth (8th), Napier (9th), Mt. Maunganui (10th), Rotorua (11th), Hamilton (15th), Leigh (16th), Auckland (17th), Devonport (18th), Motueka (21st), Christchurch again (24th), and Barrytown (24th), to promote their excellent new album Promises Promises. Their abrasive live shows have already achieved a legendary status and should be checked out if people haven’t before.

» The Veils, Wed Nov 7 @ Masonic Tavern (Akld)
The Veils are back from receiving rave reviews over in England and the States for last year’s very good Nux Vomica and play a few shows in Auckland (7th & 8th), Wellington (9th) and Christchurch (10th).

» The Phoenix Foundation, Thur Nov 8 @ Latitude Live (Napier)
The lovely pop of the new Phoenix Foundation album Happy Ending is taken on tour around the country. Also playing in Auckland (9th & 10th), Wellington (17th), Queenstown (22nd), Christchurch (23rd), Dunedin (24th) and Hamilton (December 1st).

» Liam Finn, Thur Nov 8 @ The Church of Holy Sepulchre (all ages, Akld)
Liam Finn’s under-the-radar brilliant solo album I’ll Be Lightning found him casting off the shackles of Betchadupa with some glorious indie pop and even has some influential commentators muttering it’s the best solo album by anyone from the Finn family. Liam Finn plays a few dates around the country, Christchurch (9th), Dunedin (10th), Auckland (15th), Wellington (16th) and Leigh (17th).

» Garageland, Sat Nov 10 @ King’s Arms (Akld)
The great Garageland re-form to play a one-off show (though more can be expected in the future) and to bring their glorious indie pop to a new audience and back to those who fondly remember their music from their ‘90s hey-day.

» John Cale, Thur Nov 15 @ Bruce Mason Centre (Akld)
John Cale is one of the most legendary figures in music history. From his early avant-garde collaborations with John Cage and LaMonte Young, to being a founding member of the Velvet Underground (and responsible for their more experimental leanings), to producing work by the Stooges, Patti Smith and the Modern Lovers, to releasing great solo albums for nearly three decades, John Cage’s influence on the popular music landscape cannot be overstated.

» Wild Things ’07, Sat Nov 17 @ The Monte Cristo Room (Akld)
Some of the great Kiwi underground bands of the 60s, have reformed to play a fandango of garage rock, fuzzed out rock n roll, and British inspired r&b. Promising not to be a rosy nostalgia shows, the bands are promising to show exactly what it sounded like in the 60s. The completely original line-ups/performers are The Pleazers, Chants R&B, The Breakaways, The Underdogs, Peter Nelson & The Castaways, Ray Columbus/Dave Russell/Billy Kristian, The Coming Generation, Gene Pierson.

» Nas, Wed Nov 28 @ TSB Arena (Wgtn) + Thur Nov 29 @ Logan Campbell Centre (Akld)
Instantly seen as one of the brightest hopes of hip-hop in the 90s following his breathtaking ‘94 album Illmatic, Nas along with his rival Jay-Z became heir to the King of New York hip-hop following the death of Notorious B.I.G. While Nas’ career has arguably stalled a little, his solid ’06 album Hip Hop is Dead suggests there’s plenty of life left in him.

Upcoming Gigs: The Gossip (December), The Black Lips (December), Architectures in Helsinki w/ the Ruby Suns (December), Low (January), The National (January), Jose Gonzalez (January), Kings of Leon (January), Interpol (February), Chemical Brothers (February), Rufus Wainwright (February), Wilco (March).

Camp A Low Hum, the best damn summer camp in the world is on the first week of February. 1/3 of the tickets have already been sold, and it’s a guaranteed (take my word for it) fun time of good music, good people, and good times.

There’s also the wonderful WOMAD in March in New Plymouth. The early-bird tickets have already sold out. The line-up features Beirut, Mavis Staples, David D’Or, Cesária Evora, Clube de Balanço, Dr. Natesan Ramani, Sharon Jones, SJD, Susana Baca, Taraf de Haidouks, Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra plus many more.