Here's Five: MY BABY's Favourite Aotearoa New Zealand Shows

Irrepressible tour veterans in both hemispheres of our blue planet, MY BABY have a major treat in store for local fans when they return to Aotearoa New Zealand next month. Dutch siblings Cato van Dijck, Joost van Dijck and NZ's Daniel ‘DaFreez’ Johnston's forthcoming Acoustic Blues Club Tour will show off their genre-spanning songbook nationwide in February and March, taking cues from their new live album of the same name. Each event will be split into two sets — the first "featuring different arrangements with warm acoustic blues and riffs front and centre", followed by a "high octane set of foot stomping danceable funk and psychedelic jams".

Live favourites of our summer festival season, MY BABY shared standout memories and top gig spots of their home-away-from-homecoming jaunts down under. Don't miss the multi-faceted trio at the following dates — all brought to you by Eccles Entertainment...

MY BABY
Acoustic Blues Club Tour
NEW ZEALAND FEB-MAR 2025

Saturday 15th February - Loons, Christchurch
Friday 21st February - Totara Street, Mount Maunganui
Saturday 22nd February - Smash Palace, Gisborne
Thursday 27th February - The Yard, Raglan
Friday 28th February - Double Whammy, Auckland
Saturday 1st March - Butter Factory, Whāngarei
Sunday 2nd March - Leigh Sawmill, Leigh
Thursday 6th March - Paisley Stage, Napier
Friday 7th March - San Fran, Wellington
Saturday 8th March - 5Tapped, Blenheim
Sunday 9th March - The Playhouse, Nelson
Friday 14th March - Mussell Inn, Onekakā

Tickets on sale now at mybabywashere.com

1. WOMAD NZ Festival 2019

Our biggest show in New Zealand was playing the Bowl of Brooklands at WOMAD 2019. Of course we played twice including a performance on the second stage, but the show on the main stage was an awesome experience with such a great crowd and vibe. This was the year and weekend of the Christchurch mosque tragedy so the atmosphere was charged with shock and grief. It was beautiful to see all the artists from around the world and festival goers come together to voice their support for the victims of the tragedy. So the range of emotions people went through at the fest are still very much at the heart of those memories. A very emotional heartwarming, uplifting and inspiring experience

Photography by Tim & McKenzie Jennings-Gruar

2. Mussel Inn - Golden Bay

Hidden away in the South Island's beautiful Golden Bay, this spot has been a go-to venue for many kiwi and touring musicians for many years. Our gig history there stretches back to 2015. Wonderful hosts and great beer brewed on site, and of course a great vibe with punters coming from across the region to enjoy live music. We've had some great nights there and the place quickly turns into a sweat lodge dance party. Bikram dance we call it!!

3. Totara St - Mount Maunganui

We've been gigging here since its inception back in 2015 and enjoy reuniting with our fans there every year. It's always a highlight of the tour with great energy albeit slightly unhinged, in a good way!! It's also a great summer holiday spot so we get some down time on the beach, but we're mainly there for the party at our gig :) The BOP crowd love to turn it on and it certainly turns into the Bay of Plenty of dancing!!

Photography by Kay Buchanan

4. San Fran - Wellington

Wellington crowds have been good to us over the years and we have many fond memories, including our first forays playing at the Laundry followed by shows at Meow. Back in 2020 we played at San Fran for the first time and was certainly one of the best shows of the tour. We missed out playing a headline show in Wellington last year so are pretty amped to return to the capitol this summer.

Photography by Kay Buchanan

5. Raglan

We were very sad to hear the Yot Club closed its doors this year. It was a permanent fixture on our tour schedule for so many years. We established a great connection with the place from the get-go and a show at the Yotty was always guaranteed high energy mayhem. Raglan is a great laid back place with plenty of surf and beaut spots, but when it comes down to celebrating music and dance it has to be number 1. It's great to feel the vibe of a place when people come together and we've forged some great connection there. So we are always looking forward to being back, cuz when Whaingaroans hit the dancefloor they ain't getting off!!