Gig Review: Dani Josie @ San Fran, Wellington – 19/09/2025

If you check out the pages of this very site, you’ll soon realize how much new and up and coming talent there is across the motu. Tonight, I was privileged to check out just two new, youthful, exuberant and downright amazing wāhine currently carving out their own paths on the music scene.

Headliner Dani Josie, a Vic Uni student and musician from Te Whanganui-a-tara came up on the radar last year when she dropped her first commercially available single Go Go Go, clocking over 10K streams in just the first 2 days (which is pretty impressive). Now, in support of her new single, Suckerpunch, she’s doing a four-date tiki tour around the motu. Her musical journey began in high school, where she formed close bonds with her bandmates in The Lighthouse Project. These early connections continue to shape her path, with the group still rallying behind her during live performances alongside local acts such as Wet Denim, Spencer Coyle, and Reid.

Most recently she’s been working with producer Devin Abrams (Six60, Drax Project) and that’s had an impact on her musical and presentational styles. Her latest sounds, to these ears at least, tap into the iconic flavours of ‘pop-punk’ players such as Olivia Rodrigo, Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Taylor Swift, et al.

Buoyed by her developing social media presence, tonight’s audience was predominantly a mix of under-agers, fiends, whanau and guardians. In some ways, a change from San Fran’s usual Friday night crowd you might think. Until you realize this is also the very venue that’s welcomed a raft of genres, cultures and styles. Supporting youth, up and coming, and established acts is in their very DNA. After all, it’s the home of Eyegum Wednesdays, a weekly gig dedicated to unknowns and first timers. Wiri Donna, Vera Ellen and Sureboy are recent alumni.

This evening was another Eyegum participant, Shehatesjacob – unknown to me, but not to the early comers. On stream, their music sounds very much like one guy and a laptop. They’ve racked up a million streams on Spotify and a headline show at local club, Valhalla, for their DJ work. You’d expect just one person with a laptop. But here on stage they are a very different beast – a four piece – drums, guitars and frontman (Jacob) – playing rock music that seems to be deeply inspired by late 90’s like The Offspring and Crazytown.

That said, they start with a cheeky cover of Katy Perry’s Hot’n’Cold. There was also a rockier version of the recent drop, Off The Grid and Talk Of The Town, a catchy number with a definite 70’s/80’s FM vibe. They drop a set of impressive ear-friendly pop tunes, helping set the mood up sweetly. And there’s some definite love in the room, with the young and enthusiastic front rows enjoying what is possibly their first live gig in a real city club. Lead singer Jacob tells us they were expecting three friends tonight, who’d driven down from Auckland especially for the gig, “But they just texted. They are in Taranaki right now! Never mind. This ‘energy’ goes out to them.” With the help of Ben, the bassist, they go hard out on the Basement Jaxx classic, Where’s Your Head At? A good nod to the DJ days to finish their set. A crafty manoeuvre.

Next up is definitely one to watch: Emerson (Emma Wagner) is an indie-pop artist, hailing from Tamaki Makaurau. Winner of last year’s Smokefree Rockquest Solo-Duo Award, she’s celebrated for her emotionally charged performances, blending confessional lyrics, dreamy synths, and delicate guitar work into a soundscape that’s both intimate and cinematic. On first listen you can hear her inspirations – Clairo, Phoebe Bridgers, Charli XCX. All ambitious elements of bedroom pop, folk, alt-R&B, and dance-pop navigating themes of self-love, heartbreak, growing up, and the complexities of teenage relationships.

With her three-piece band she opens with the sweet relationship validator Show You Off and a bit later the slightly awkward I Want U To Know Me. Both sum up navigating teen relationships so perfectly. The latter gets a big cheer as the lead guitarist shows his chops off with some classic rock riffs.

There’s a new one, Amy, a dark, heavy and poetic ballad with a beautiful swelling chorus. I hope she gets this one in the can soon. It deserves to go mainstream. Also new, Residue, has a nice dark, gothic undertone, to go with the song’s sentiments finding it hard to let go of an old flame. Through these songs, Emerson is energetic, yet always authentic. I love the way she relates in body language, style and music to her audience. They totally get her. She gets them, working the crowd into a swooning frenzy. She’s well on her way to becoming the real deal.

Bored, which she included tonight, was her breakout single, winning 2024’s ZM’s Best Song and debuted at #16 on the Aotearoa Hot 20 chart. It’s still a popular choice with the room. When it comes up, she introduces the sweet alt-pop lullaby Carry Me Home From the Car (a finalist in the Play It Strange 2024 Peace Song Comp) as a reflection of coming of age. “A song about growing up. Yeah, I’m kinda scared of it and yet I’m already doing it”. I think this was one of the most endearing moments of the evening. All the parents shrinking into the darkness of the room were secretly smiling, goosebumps and warm fuzzies. Most of the fans may be underage but they get it too, singing along to the chorus in support and mutual adoration.

Her alt-pop confessional Tip Of My Tongue heads into dreamy pop territory, whilst Counting Sheep gets heavier, dealing with angst and anxious thinking. I think Lola Young will be ringing up, wanting to cover this one. And speaking of covers, they drop in another, Cherry Cola, for a bit of good ol’ wig out. Emerson signs off with her top spinner You Really Must Hate Me!

I read that Emerson is also a sought-after songwriter, having collaborated with Frankie Venter, Teo Glacier, Keenan Te, Macey, Rosetta, and Lucy Gray. Based on what I saw tonight, I think I’m gonna become a bit of a fan. I’m adding her tracks to my playlist, even as I write this.

When it’s her turn Dani and her band (Anthony Kendrew – bass, Hayden Lam – drums, Finn Harris – guitar) are the full pop star package. Dani has the moves, the clothes, the hair and the video tracking her as she comes out radiant and emboldened. Her audience love it. She opens in full force with Suckerpunch, which is a real banger, followed by nice mid-tempo track Handle It and Losing My Breath. These show off her radio-friendly voice to a ‘T’. While the publicity has leant towards ‘pop-punk’, though, I’m thinking that Dani’s material is more Taylor Swift-esque. Actually, she does a cover of Love Story, later on which gets a huge positive reception, everyone singing along lustily.

Throughout the set there are a couple of other covers – first there’s The Man That Came Back by Jessie Murph (a ballad worthy of many swaying mobile phone lights) and Tom Grennan’s 2021 hit A Little Bit Of Love. Not an obvious choice, but Dani sells it so well I thought she actually wrote it herself for a moment there. We also get to hear a few unreleased numbers including a dedication to her grandfather who passed four years ago, called Colour of Stars. This is a quiet and quite beautiful song done with some sensitive production, it’ll make a great single.

Also a very brand new one (“I wrote this 2 days ago”) called Hollow. It’s a swaggering ballad, held together by a humming bassline. Given it’s so fresh, I wonder what it will look and sound like when it finally gets in the studio. I mentioned Taylor Swift before. The closest Dani actually gets in her writing like Tay Tay is one called Horror Stories, about the residue of a breakup (I think). It’s another soft ballad with that emotional hook we’ve all come to love. New Me is a candy crush self-love number, empowering her audience. In response, they hand over phones so Dani can self-record short videos of herself and her fans from the stage back into the crowd.

She does an upbeat version of Katy Perry’s The One That Got Away, and her own power-ballad, All Of Me, to lift the mood. Because the band is very new to all this, there’s a fair bit of shuffling around. To cover, Dani asks for Knock-Knock jokes and one enthusiastic punter pipes up. But, well, let’s just say that ‘C-Dogs’ efforts at humour are best left unrecorded.

Bookending the show with another banger, Lovebomber (her version of Toxic) has the full force and warms the room back up. These are the songs that play best to her strengths, I feel. That’s what the room really wants. As predicted, she closes with Go Go Go with everyone singing and bouncing along, happy from a great night out. Many of these young fans would have had limited experience of a great gig. I think they got their money’s worth.

You can see where Dani Josie wants to go with her music. She has the makings of a big stadium performer one day, and I hope she gets the chance. Like Kimbra and Kaylee Bell, if she has the stuff, if she puts in the mahi she could well be headlining one day.

Photo Credit: Andy Russell / Andy Snaps
Shehatesjacob Photo Gallery
Emerson Photo Gallery
Dani Josie Photo Gallery