Gig Review: Reb Fountain @ Last Place, Hamilton – 01/10/2026

There was something about the setting of Reb Fountain’s Water for Gasoline tour opener that felt right.

Last Place has recently undergone a pretty significant revamp, and this was my first time back since the changes. The old space always felt narrow, whereas the new layout gives the room a little more breathing space while somehow retaining that intimate, slightly grungy character that makes a small venue like this work. It felt like the perfect place to start a tour like this.

Opening the night was Young Moon, the solo project of Los Angeles-born, Nelson-based musician Trevor Montgomery.

Montgomery walked out alone with a guitar and drum machine, wearing a very respectable black Flying Nun hat. There was something immediately likeable about the whole thing. A very tall man standing alone on a small stage, stripped back to the essentials, quietly drawing the room towards him.

His songs were beautiful, atmospheric, understated and full of space, and despite having very little between himself and the audience, he managed to bring the room in. It was a lovely way to begin the evening.

Then came Reb.

There are some performers who demand your attention, and Reb Fountain is one of them. You can’t really help but watch her. There is something completely mesmerising about the way she occupies a stage, and in my opinion she has one of the most powerful and beautiful voices in Aotearoa music right now.

She opened with Good People, the first track from Water for Gasoline, and it was an absolute cracker of a way to begin. The song is unapologetically a call for people to stand together, with its repeated refrain to “tear the fascists down”, and hearing a room full of people singing it together was quite something.

It wasn’t a political rally, though. It was something much more human than that.

There was a real sense of community in the room. A feeling that people had come together because they needed music, and because they needed to hear something that felt honest. With everything going on in Aotearoa and around the world, you could feel that weight in the room – but you could also feel the hope.

And that’s what Reb does so well.

Her writing can be incredibly literal, and I love that about it. She doesn’t seem afraid to say exactly what she means, but she wraps those ideas in these beautiful images and metaphors that leave plenty of room for the listener to find themselves somewhere inside the song.

One of the biggest highlights for me was when the band left the stage and Reb performed solo.

Just Reb, her guitar and that voice.

No frills. Nowhere to hide.

And she didn’t need anything else.

She completely captivated the room.

The same could be said for Water for Gasoline, the title track from the new record. It’s a beautiful, slow-burning song filled with imagery and metaphor, and hearing it live gave it a different weight. The album itself has been described as being made for the present moment, and that certainly seemed to be the case in Hamilton.

The band deserve a huge amount of credit too.

I didn’t know all of the musicians’ names going into the show, but you could tell immediately that they were a band who genuinely enjoyed playing together. The bass player was locked into the groove all night, while the guitars, drums and vocals created this wonderfully tight but never overly polished sound.

There were little moments between them, a glance, a smile, the feeling that they were enjoying the music as much as the people watching them, that made the whole performance feel incredibly natural.

That’s something you notice.
You can tell when a band is doing a job.
But this didn’t feel like that.

Then came Hey Mom, and the room changed.

It’s one of those songs that seems to bypass your brain entirely and go straight for the heart. Originally released in 2020, the song is a deeply personal reflection on childhood and motherhood.

Looking around the room, it was hard to find many dry eyes.

People held onto each other.

You could feel the weight of the song.

And that is one of the things that makes Reb so special live. You can hear the emotion on the records, but seeing her perform these songs in a room full of people is something else entirely. There is still pain in the performance. You can feel the mamae.

The Gamble, Fisherman, Beautiful Lie and Sand Dunes all landed beautifully, but the other huge moment for me was Don’t You Know Who I Am.

It’s probably the song most people in the room immediately knew, and when it kicked in, the energy went through the roof.

It’s an absolute belter.

The way it builds, the way Reb moves around the stage and the way she interacts with the crowd makes it feel less like you’re watching somebody perform a song and more like you’re caught up inside it.

There are moments when she reminds me a little of Stevie Nicks – not in the obvious musical sense, but in that slightly mysterious, almost spooky presence. There’s something incredibly cool and magnetic about the way she performs.

And then, just like that, the band disappeared.

The crowd wanted more.

They got it.

The encore closed with Memorial, bringing the night to a quiet but incredibly powerful end.

It had been roughly an hour and a half of music, but it didn’t feel like it. The audience had been completely locked in from the opening notes, and by the end there was a genuine feeling that nobody really wanted the night to finish.

That might be the biggest thing I took away from the show.

Connection.

Reb Fountain has built something really special with her audience. There is a genuine loyalty there, but more than that, there is trust. People want to hear these songs. They want to be in the room. They want to listen to what she has to say.

And Water for Gasoline feels like an album that has arrived at an important moment.

It’s an album about the world we’re living in, about finding beauty and meaning amongst the noise, and about art as a way of making sense of all of it. Fountain herself has described art as an essential way of making sense of herself and the world around her.

After watching her perform it live, I think that’s exactly what makes this tour feel important.

Reb Fountain is not standing still.

She’s getting better.

And if the first night of the Water for Gasoline tour is anything to go by, she’s got something pretty special coming for the rest of Aotearoa.

If you get the chance to see Reb Fountain anywhere on this tour, go.

Seriously.

Go.

 

Photo Credit: Aaron Christiansen for Muzic.NZ
Reb Fountain Gallery
Young Moon Gallery