Tour news: Hear Them Roar's fierce five unleashed

Annie Crummer, Debbie Harwood, Sharon O'Neill, Shona Laing and Margaret Urlich are no strangers to performing together.

Sharon O'Neill, Margaret Urlich, Debbie Harwood, Annie Crummer, and Shona Laing: individually, they dominated the airwaves throughout the 70s, 80s and early 90s and inspired new generations of female Kiwi singer-songwriters.

Together they form something of a supergroup, and are responsible for a wide selection of beloved local songs - from O'Neill's Maxine, to Laing's (Glad I'm) Not A Kennedy, chart-topping When The Cat's Away hit Melting Pot, and Urlich's smash song with Peking Man, Room That Echoes.

They first came together in 2009 for a series of concerts around New Zealand, and now they're reuniting for a special concert entitled Hear Them Roar, at Auckland Zoo on Saturday February 27.

They'll be performing songs from across their careers, singing as backing vocalists on each other's work, and they have a six-piece band which includes guitarist Gary Verberne (the original guitarist for When The Cat's Away), and Dragon stalwart Alan Mansfield (also O'Neill's partner) on keys. Comedian Michele A'Court will also join them to make sure plenty of laughs are involved.

To mark the occasion we asked them to answer a few quick questions for us.

What made you keen to be involved in this show?

Harwood: Because these incredible songs should be heard, and live is best - there's magic in them thar trills (plus I bloody love these women).

Laing: Would not miss an opportunity to work with these wonderful women, not to mention the band.

Will there be any new songs in the mix?

H: I do a couple of newish originals but there are so many songs like Maxine, Kennedy, Escaping, See What Love Can Do, Asian Paradise - the setlist is already heaving with gems.

L: I'm going to do a couple of songs that weren't included in 2009, but they're not new per se.

Which song by one of the others would you most like to sing?

H: Thankfully Shona lets me rip into Soviet Snow with her, which is a vocal force majeure.

O'Neill: Soviet Snow for me too - it's bigger than a snowman's breakfast.

And which song do you wish you'd written?

H: Danced in the Fire by Sharon - I've written songs about agonising break-ups, but this one takes you right into the middle of the raging river.

L: For me it's See What Love Can Do by Annie Crummer and the Herbs.

Seeing as you'll be performing at the zoo - which zoo animal would you be and why?

H: I'd say I'm more cockatoo - I'm annoyingly optimistic.

L: An elephant, we never forget.

O: Any kind of cat!

• Tickets will be available from Friday January 29 through Ticketmaster.