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Music historian Gareth Shute has created maps of Auckland’s historic venues for the website AudioCulture. He takes us through four key spots in the heart of the city: the Civic, Auckland Town Hall, the St James and the Bluestone Room/Store

It’s a Friday night in September and the Civic theatre is bustling. Hollie Smith is in the main theatre, a covers act performs out in the foyer, the Modern Māori Quartet is downstairs in the spacious Wintergarden, while upstairs cabaret singers perform in the Piano Bar and there’s musical comedy in the cosy Abyssinian Room. The event –the Auckland Live Cabaret Season – is inadvertently showcasing the Civic’s versatility, even as it approaches 100 years old.