REVIEW: Flight of the Conchords celebrate Wellington in long-awaited return

After an eight-year pause from performing live - Flight of the Conchords are BACK.

It’s been 14 years since their last national tour and in the first of four SOLD OUT shows at the Michael Fowler Centre, Welly knows how to kick off a tour right!

As my first time seeing duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement live, I walked in curious how they’d perform on stage and what the energy in the room would be... oh boy, was I in for a treat! The Michael Fowler Centre is one of the best venues in the country. While one of Wellington’s larger venues, it makes for an intimate performance no matter where you sit.

The crowd settled into their seats, and the show started with local musician Woody (or ‘Wellington Tree Man’ as many call him), giving us a brilliant warm-up performance.

Bret and Jemaine then took to the stage starting with a very 2026 version of ‘Robots’, pointing out that AI now ‘writes our f*#king emails,’ ‘teaches us how to cook an egg’ and ‘make me sound personal, but not too personal.’

‘Mutha'uckas’, ‘The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)’ and ‘Hurt Feelings’ were some of the songs to follow before a few heckles in the crowd. It began with a friend of “Sadie” celebrating a birthday, which then turned into a chain of 5-6 others also celebrating their birthdays. Bret chucked a few FOTC Tea Towels as gifts into the audience, and the crowd sang a surprisingly in-tune Happy Birthday.

Woody then made a return to the stage, playing the saxophone for one of FOTC’s largest songs, ‘Business Time ’, and a bit later on for ‘Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros’, with Wellington’s one and only King Home Boy also joining the duo onstage for some insane beatboxing getting a standing ovation from the crowd. Bret and Jemaine shared, “We went up Cuba Street the other day, asked if these guys wanted to do the show, they were keen, and they just performed - how good!” The crowd erupted again in a massive cheer for both.

Every. Single. Song. The crowd just loved every moment of it! It almost felt like a comedy show that also happened to play some bloody brilliant music.

Bret and Jemaine exited the stage after their final song, ‘Bowie’ and after the crowd chanted ‘one more song’ they came back out with one thing to say: “You’ve probably heard this one before, maybe 15 years ago? It’s a little song we call ‘Feel Inside’,” Jermaine said. A lady sat behind me screamed with excitement, “Oh my god, no wayyy!” as this show was the debut of ‘Feel Inside’ being performed live on tour!

If you’re seeing Flight of the Conchords at one of the sold-out shows here in Wellington or a show in Christchurch or Auckland - regardless of whether you’ve seen them before or not, you will love it!

It’s great to see these lads back on stage performing, and I can’t wait to hopefully see them again soon!

Photos: First image - Getty Images. Article images - Andy Snaps

Flight of the Conchords at Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre - 10th November 2026 setlist:

1. Robots

2. Frodo

3. Mutha'uckas

4. Father and Son

5. The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)

6. Hurt Feelings

7. Carol Brown

8. Jenny

9. Bus Driver's Song

10. Business Time (with Woody the Wellington Tree Man on Saxophone)

11. Think About It

12. Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros (with beatboxing from King Home Boy)

13. Iain and Deanna

14. Seagull

15. We're Both in Love With a Sexy Lady

16. Inner City Pressure

17. Bowie

Encore: 18. Feel Inside (And Stuff Like That) (Live debut)