Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival is set to light up the city from 5–22 March, turning Tāmaki Makaurau into a vibrant hub of creativity, storytelling, and artistic connection. With 18 jam-packed days of world-class performances and cultural moments, this year’s Festival promises something for every kind of art lover. Here are nine standout shows set to become this year’s festival favourites.
Musical Highlights
Sau Fiafia! Boogie Down! With Island Vibes
Thursday 05 March • 5.30pm • Aotea Square
Kick off the Festival with a free, high-energy Pacific funk party featuring the Island Vibes collective — a nine-piece band that bridges Pacific musical traditions with modern funk and afrobeat rhythms, blending heritage influences and big-band energy. Perfect for all ages, this open-air launch sets a vibrant tone for the Festival with soulful hooks and feel-good grooves that invite everyone to move, mingle and soak up Tāmaki Makaurau’s creative energy.
Julia Bullock with Auckland Philharmonia
Saturday 7 March • 7.00pm • Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Grammy-winning American soprano Julia Bullock presents an exclusive Aotearoa concert with the Auckland Philharmonia. One of our time’s most adventurous vocal artists — Bullock’s known for mixing classical repertoire with jazz and soul influences, to create music that bridges emotional intimacy with symphonic depth.
27 Club
18–20 March • Spiegeltent, Aotea Square
Part rock concert, part storytelling tribute, 27 Club celebrates the enduring legacy of artists lost at age 27, including Hendrix, Joplin, Winehouse and Cobain, performed by some of Australia’s fiercest musical talent. With an epic setlist from grunge to classic rock anthems, 27 Club has been a certified hit across 14 Australian cities and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
He Manu Tīoriori
Saturday 21 March • 5.30pm • Spiegeltent, Aotea Square
He Manu Tīoriori showcases a new generation of waiata in te reo Māori — emerging directly from the Waiata / Anthems project, a ground-breaking initiative that debuted at No. 1 on the official NZ charts in 2019 by re-recording well-known songs in Māori to make the language more accessible through familiar music. Expect artists like Muroki, MOHI and Jordyn with a Why to blend contemporary sounds with moving cultural resonance.
Big Horns
Saturday 21 March • 7.30pm • Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall
Close out your Festival with a funk-fuelled celebration as Big Horns bring their brass-rich, genre-crossing set. This homegrown brass-funk collective isn’t just a band — they’re known for reinventing dancefloor favourites from Prince to Earth, Wind & Fire with zero backing tracks, meaning every groove and horn blast is played live on stage.
Circus & Dance Delights
Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Macbeth
4–7 March • Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is one of the world’s older ballet companies (formed in 1953 and granted its ‘Royal’ title by Queen Elizabeth II in 1984). Macbeth is a brand-new co-production with West Australian Ballet that pushes Shakespeare into 2026’s media-saturated world. Alice Topp’s soaring choreography and a thunderous score bring a genre-defying twist to the classic political tragedy and its timeless themes of ambition and greed.
Duck Pond
12–15 March • Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre
Circa is one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary circus companies, known not just for physical spectacle but for theatrical innovation — and Duck Pond is a cheeky reimagining of Swan Lake that played to sold-out audiences internationally before landing in Tāmaki Makaurau for the first time. A must-watch for contemporary circus fans who enjoy a balance of humour with breathtaking skill.
Thought-Provoking Theatre
A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen
12–15 March • Rangatira, Q Theatre
Equal parts theatre and culinary experience, this unique show by Joshua Hinton invites audiences into his family’s food stories as he recreates his grandmother’s chicken curry live (he literally cooks on stage). Combining music, memory and the sensory delight of smell and taste, it’s an intimate, cross-cultural celebration of identity, belonging and flavour — a truly multi-sensory Festival experience.
The Visitors
19–22 March • Rangatira, Q Theatre
Written by Muruwari playwright Jane Harrison, The Visitors reimagines a pivotal moment in Australian history — the arrival of the First Fleet — from the viewpoint of Indigenous elders, reframing the narrative with wit and humanity rather than a colonial perspective. This theatrical exploration of hospitality, change and choice is a powerful reminder of history’s complexity.
