Dope Lemon Review: A Night of Cat Masks and Fedoras

Angus Stone brings his project Dope Lemon to the Auckland Town Hall

REVIEW | ARTS | PŪRĀKAU / MYTHOLOGY

Written by Jed Scott (he/him) | @jed__scott | Contributing Writer

Before the 8th of August, 2025, my knowledge of Angus Stone's psych-tinged indie project Dope Lemon was pretty unremarkable and perhaps a bit ignorant. I had only known a song or two back when my 2019 "summer vibes" playlist was my pride and joy. Since then, I've gradually soured (no pun intended) on that surfy, beach bum indie rock era of music, with its spring reverb slapped on every guitar. It's just not what I listen to anymore. So my assumptions about Dope were, for the most part, quite dismissive. For the number of times I'd heard his name brought up, seen his tracks featured on my mates' playlists, or caught a glimpse of a tour poster from the corner of my eye, I never really bothered to delve into Dope's music. That is, until I saw him perform for the first time at the great Auckland Town Hall.

For a bit of background, Sydney-based musician Angus Stone (known from his brother-sister duo Angus & Julia Stone) has been working under the Dope Lemon moniker for almost a decade. The project has garnered a passionate fanbase through his blend of indie rock, psychedelia, and rootsy folk (think Kurt Vile, but for the Triple J-obsessed). Angus's debut album as Dope Lemon, Hustle Bones (2016), was an instant success, resonating immediately with a generation of young millennials (who are now probably van-life influencers). Since then, Angus has been steadily touring and releasing albums. His most recent album, Golden Wolf (2025), has been described as the next chapter of Dope Lemon, with Angus lyrically delving into more mature subject matter, though still maintaining his signature carefree attitude in the process.

As mentioned before, I had some hesitancy when it came to Dope Lemon, and that was no different for the forthcoming show. I knew he would kill a set at Le Currents or Splore, but...the Auckland Town Hall? Isn't that where the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra plays? It didn't help that the artist known for summery, quasi-hippy indie jams was playing amid a particularly dreary mid-winter night in Auckland. Regardless, my partner and I made our way down Queen Street and queued up behind a line that almost stretched its way to Sky World.

Once we'd shuffled our way into the lavish interior of the hall, we were greeted by blue lights shimmering across the room, transforming an otherwise elegant building into an aquatic acid trip. The crowd was a diverse mix of long-haired surfers with flat caps, cool dads, and a few who dared to sport Hawaiian shirts in 10-degree weather. Soon after we took our spots, the opener took the stage: a Sydney-based duo named PAMELA. The crowd cheered, albeit hesitantly, as I suspect - like me - they had no idea who they were.

They kicked off their set on a slick and sensual note. Guitarist Josh Kempen laid down some spacious, reverb-soaked chords as vocalist Sarah Ellen sang in a hushed and feminine tone that reminded me of The Marías and The xx. As they delved further into their setlist, the duo ran through a gauntlet of tried-and-true indie-pop sounds. Halfway through, Sarah explained that all the songs they were performing were unreleased, and that they were still relatively new to the gigging scene - though it was no surprise they had been tagged to join Dope Lemon on tour, as many of their cuts harkened back to the sounds of Angus & Julia Stone's earlier work. Their performance, though maybe a bit stiff at times, ultimately came together in its final moments - Walk to the Sky being a particularly driving and upbeat highlight. In the end, the band left the stage victorious, winning over the crowd as PAMELA received emphatic applause during their exit.

After PAMELA finished, the stage was set for Dope Lemon, the crowd growing more and more antsy by the minute. Eventually, in a warm haze of orange, Dope's backing band walked on stage one by one, accompanied by a spaghetti western theme song - many of them sporting wide-brimmed fedora hats and country boots. Angus was the last one to enter, wearing his iconic shades and a black blazer, an outfit he's been rocking throughout the entire Golden Wolf rollout.

They immediately kicked into the first song, Stonecutters. Warm, fuzzy guitars rang out across the hall as the drummer laid down a thumping mid-tempo beat. Heads immediately started nodding as Angus began to sing in his usual ponderous drawl. For someone who hadn't heard the track previously, I was taken aback by how bluesy it sounded, with duelling guitar licks building a wall of sound that intensified during its final moments. How Many Times doubled down on the blues rock sound, this time with a more lumbering and foreboding groove. As the band chugged along like a coal-powered engine, I found myself becoming ever more entranced by the psychedelic effects and distorted harmonica wails. Quite frankly, it was an unexpected yet explosive start to the show that blew my presumptions about Dope's music right out of the water.

John Belushi, the first song played off the new album, only surprised me further, as two people awkwardly shuffled on stage wearing comically oversized cat masks. The two started dancing like they had just smoked a joint before going on stage, hilariously giving minimal effort to impress the crowd. Though in any other show it might have been a bemusing gimmick, the cat dancers were perfect for Dope Lemon's spaced-out demeanour. The cats then exited (albeit with the help of the crew) to transition into the next song, Marinade, Dope's biggest hit. A woman immediately shoved her way past me to get up front, and as I looked around, almost everyone in the stands was on their feet. The track went off without a hitch, and even as someone who never had an emotional connection to the song, I couldn't help but feed off the immense bliss radiating from the crowd.

The show went full slacker mode with Slinging Dimes, a newer cut with idealistic lyrics about flowing down a river with "a big bear named Moe." The lax sentiment was the perfect comedown before finishing off the show with some of Dope's biggest hits. Honey Bones, which saw Angus switching out his electric guitar for a sitar, ambled in its psychedelic serenity, aided by bongo taps and the drones of Angus's aforementioned sitar. The band came to a raucous climax, jamming over a wash of delayed vocals and Hindi-inspired melodies.

Rose Pink Cadillac was another song fans were eager to hear, with its tight, upbeat guitar rhythm lending itself to one of the grooviest moments of the night. Then there was Uptown Folks, the most urgent-sounding song of the entire night. While Angus played it pretty low-key for the majority of the performance, this was the moment I most felt his presence as a frontman, showing that he could sound just as good when he was giving it his all. The song's final moments saw him triumphantly holding up his guitar to the audience as the band crescendoed to a grand and powerful finale.

The band and Angus then made their exit, waving to the uproarious crowd. Yet it wasn't long before they made a swift entrance back onstage for the encore. The keyboard player busted out the all-too-familiar "da-da-da" chant from Slice of Heaven. The crowd followed suit, ushering a dancing Angus back onto the stage for the final track of the night, Home Soon (my personal favourite Dope Lemon song). It was a jubilant closer, the hall lit up with everyone's best moves. The big cat heads reappeared once more, filling the stage and turning what should have been a chilly winter's night into a jubilant summer dance party.

As the show wrapped up and I found myself strolling back out onto Queen Street, I couldn't help but feel delighted at how wrong my presumptions were about Dope Lemon. Once simple-minded about Angus' music, his Town Hall performance proved the man can deliver on all fronts, from Blues Rock bangers to blissful and groovy indie pop. With just enough surprises, the night was an unforgettable experience, despite some performances being a bit too easygoing for my liking. Still, I was thoroughly entertained throughout the night, as I'm sure the rest of the crowd would agree.