Pluto – Double Whammy, 8 November 2025: Review & Photo Gallery

9th November 2025

As the wet blustery nights in Tāmaki Makaurau have finally given way to summer humidity, the legendary Pluto took to the stage at a steamy Double Whammy to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their seminal 2005 Pipeline Under the Ocean album.

There was a change in the support act at the last minute with the busiest man in showbiz Jol Mulholland bringing his extensive skills to a solo set of songs that ran the gamut of emotions from dark and observational to joyous singalongs.

It was a pleasure to see Pluto back on stage together, especially considering their sometimes-strained history, a fact joked about from the stage and now left firmly in the past.

They kicked off the set with latest single Hackney Town before working their way through the complete set of songs from the Pipeline album.

There were many in the sold-out crowd who grew up with this album, singing along with all the words and relishing the chance to indulge in these classic songs with the band.

The beauty of complete album shows is hearing songs that have often never been played live or only make rare appearances. There were many great moments on Pipeline, so it was good to hear the likes of Madeline, 8 O’ Clock and Moja Rieka (with an excellent jam added to the end) from the stage.

Pluto contains many of Aotearoa’s finest musicians and this showed tonight. Michael Franklin Browne and Mike Hall are arguably one of the greatest rhythm sections the country has produced and they set up the platform for Matthias Jordan’s keyboards and Tim Arnold’s guitar to weave their sonic magic.

Milan Borich was as enigmatic as ever, owning the stage and delivering vocally like the intervening 20 years had never passed.