Manuka Phuel Synthony Festival – Auckland Domain, 21 March 2026: Review & Photo Galleries

Kerrie Evans and Photos by Leonie Moreland

22nd March 2026

Manuka Phuel Synthony Festival in the Domain, that blends New Zealand and international artists, a full orchestra and 40,000 festival goers from around New Zealand has now become a welcomed regular fixture on the Auckland event calendar.

A packed line up of New Zealand talent that included Made You Look, Kaylee Bell, The Exponents, Nice ‘N’ Urlich, Shapeshifter, The Black Seeds and not to forget the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra.

Hopping across the ditch for the day were Peking Duk, Hot Dub Time Machine and conductor Sarah Grace-Williams and stopping off in New Zealand as part of their current world tour were the UK’s Faithless.

Thankfully, the warm weather meant the plastic ponchos were not required and many festival goers arrived nice and early to fully immerse themselves into the atmosphere. The event itself feels more like an enormous reunion of anyone who’s ever graced a dancefloor, you will more than likely bump into someone you know and from the moment you walk in, you’re suddenly hit by the scale of it with thousands of people and the unmistakable buzz of excitement. You can easily see why it’s grown into one of Auckland’s biggest one day events.

The layout of the festival provides amusement, especially the stark realisation on the faces of the VIP and VVIP guests who discover on arrival that their zones are nowhere near the stage and to get close to the action requires rubbing shoulders with the folks in premium GA.

This is my fourth time at Synthony, so definitely not a one and done festival experience. Each year, the line up seems to get better attracting headline acts from around the world whilst maintaining that Kiwi feel.

It always feels refreshed and better than the previous year’s event, until that is, you start to feel peckish and it dawns on you that the wait at one of the overwhelmed food vendors could be more than 30 minutes.

Having an efficient food serving system similar to that of the bar, would work very well. The organisers have also now managed to perfect the toilet/attendee ratio meaning dance time wasn’t impacted by lengthy queues for the loo.

First on the set list were Made You Look, who had a tough time slot as it was, let alone having to take to the stage 15 minutes earlier than advertised.

Any festivalgoer who held a ticket with access close to the stage had an epic hike to get there in time, so unfortunately only a handful of fans were there as they began.

The crowd grew as their set progressed, but the lack of fans didn’t dampen the spirits of the talented West Auckland duo Alex Thompson and Shelton Woolright, who gave their energetic performance everything, especially in their hits Sweater and Lonely Party.

Canterbury’s own Kaylee Bell proved to be a huge hit with the ever-increasing crowd, wowing them with her Country ballads and powerhouse vocals. Kaylee definitely brought

out some closet line dancers hiding amongst the crowd. I dare you to keep your feet still to the likes of Ring On It, Cowboy Up and her cover of Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn.

With only a short break to refill glasses before the Exponents, the crowd moved with purpose to ensure they were back in time for one of New Zealand’s most iconic Rock bands.

It was a well-planned move by the organisers to utilize Jordan Luck and co to smoke all of the Kiwis out of the local pubs and pre-event parties into the event. The crowd had swelled at this point and bought with them an abundance of energy.

Their classic anthems Victoria and What Happened to Tracey managed to get many hands in the air, but their staple Why Does Love Do This to Me got the entire crowd singing along like a mass karaoke.

Nice ‘N’ Urlich had big boots to fill, but beloved Kiwi dance duo Peter Urlich and Bevan Keys dropped their legendary blend of smooth house grooves and Kiwi charisma ensuring the party vibe continued. The crowd were in a euphoric mood, and it appeared that nothing was going to stand in their way of a good time.

Whilst some dispersed to queue for food and to refill their glasses, the stalwarts stayed and made some serious shapes on the dancefloor.

An unusually early time on the set list for Kiwi Drum and Bass royalty Shapeshifter, but they absolutely nailed it with their modern Kiwi anthems, energetic stage presence and exceptional vocal talent of P-Digsss.

After just over half an hour of crowd pleasers, the band concluded their set with In Colour, which hit the spot just as it has always done when performed live.

The Black Seeds, one of New Zealand’s most influential bands delivered their iconic mix of Reggae, Soul, Funk and Dub, which on a beautifully sun-drenched Auckland day, was a welcome reminder that summer is still very much here. With a 25 year back catalogue to choose from, we were spoilt with 40 minutes of classics that included So True, One by One and Cool Me Down.

Warming us up nicely for Synthony were Peking Duk, an electronic duo comprising of Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles, whose onstage chemistry shone through from start to finish.

Their set list of classic hits blended seamlessly with dance anthems drove the crowd wild, as did the audience participation. Peking Duk’s hits of High and Take Me Over maintained the energetic atmosphere and closed out their set leaving everyone wanting more.

With 40,000 sets of eyes pointed towards the main stage, the Auckland Philharmonia took to their seats before the arrival of their talented and passionate conductor, Sarah-Grace Williams. Synthony is a magical blend of dance music performed by an orchestra supported by vocalists, musicians, visuals and fireworks that culminates into a spectacle like no other.

The world premiere of Synthony No. 7 delivered nothing short of a euphoric experience. From start to finish, the set was pure perfection, including Calvin Harris’ Sweet Nothing, Eric Prydz’s Call On Me, Avicii’s Levels and Wake Me Up, with vocals from by Kaylee Bell and the addition of Oasis’s Wonderwall which got all the crowd singing along.

With solo trombonist Douglas Cross taking to the stage to perform Groove Armada’s Superstylin and tuba player Alexander Jeantou wowing the crowd with Da Hool’s Meet Her at The Love Parade, we were spoilt with talent from start to finish.

The set culminated in a display of fireworks, breathtaking visuals, lasers and musical mastery of Darude’s Sandstorm, this really was a gig that would leave fond memories for years to come.

Those who didn’t make an early break for the limited transport options were treated to the Hot Dub Time Machine, a musical trip down memory lane, where somehow, everyone seemed to know every track and relished the chance to continue their party with some absolute bangers!

Faithless, first time touring in 15 years and with Synthony listed as the only New Zealand stop on their current tour, this was a must see set.

Sister Bliss, and the live band combined classics such as Insomnia and God is a DJ with music from their recent albums and dance classics from the past. As a fan for over 30 years, I was curious to see how Maxi Jazz, the lead vocalist who sadly passed away in 2022 would be honoured.

Faithless respectfully nailed it and fans got to see glimpses of Maxi throughout the set and were treated to a full celebration of this talented artist at the end, quite rightly accompanied by the iconic We Come One. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and I doubt many in the crowd would suffer from insomnia after that.