One of Aotearoa’s most celebrated musical innovators is set to join forces with one of the country’s premier orchestras for a performance promising to blur the boundaries between electronic music, reggae, drum and bass, hip hop and classical orchestration.
Tiki Taane will take to the stage with the Auckland Philharmonia on 22 October at Auckland Town Hall for a one-night-only concert that reimagines some of his biggest hits alongside a full symphony orchestra.
The performance will feature Tiki joined by special guests Tali, Big Sima, and his children Charlie and Karcia, backed by the Auckland Phil’s full orchestra. The concert will also incorporate live looping, immersive visual projections and newly orchestrated arrangements designed specifically for the collaboration.
Audiences can expect orchestral versions of some of Tiki’s best-known songs, including Tangaroa, Summertime, and Longtime, which pays tribute to his years as frontman of iconic New Zealand band Salmonella Dub.
A centrepiece of the evening will be Always on My Mind, the 2008 smash hit that became one of New Zealand’s most successful singles. The song reached number one, remained in the charts for a record 55 weeks, and became the first New Zealand digital single to achieve platinum sales.
The Auckland performance marks a return of a concept first staged in 2021 with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. That sold-out concert was later released as a live album and documentary, with Tiki Taane in Session with CSO going on to receive more than 40 international film awards.
The upcoming performance reunites Tiki with conductor and co-arranger Tom Rainey, whose orchestral arrangements helped shape the original production and introduced Tiki’s music to new audiences through a symphonic lens.
For Tiki, the Auckland concert represents another opportunity to showcase the versatility of New Zealand music while bringing together artists from different musical worlds.
His career spans more than three decades, beginning in the early 1990s before joining Salmonella Dub as the band’s live sound engineer and later becoming its frontman. Since launching his solo career, he has established himself as one of Aotearoa’s most influential musicians, producers and engineers.
Beyond his own catalogue, Tiki has worked with some of New Zealand’s biggest artists, including Six60, Kora, Katchafire, Blindspott and Shapeshifter, while continuing to serve as Shapeshifter’s live sound engineer.
His recent appearance alongside the Auckland Philharmonia at Synthony Festival demonstrated the growing appetite for collaborations that merge electronic music with orchestral performance.
The October concert promises to build on that momentum, celebrating New Zealand music through a production that combines innovation, storytelling and musical excellence.
For fans of Tiki Taane, orchestral music, or simply unforgettable live performances, the concert is shaping up to be one of the standout events on Auckland’s spring entertainment calendar.
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