There’s something very special about the Rhythm and Vines music festival held during New Year at the lovely Waiohika Estate Vineyard, just out of Gisborne.

Rhythm and Vines celebrated their ten-year anniversary with an unprecedented level of professionalism and 31,000 music lovers partied with them on New Years Eve.

The establishment of more onsite camping, five stages, better facilities and a cleverly designed site layout all helped to ensure the event ran like clockwork, attracting record numbers despite the increased competition from other festivals over summer.

The accident involving a truck, carrying mainly sound equipment for the festival, caused large delays to PA installations onsite but overall sound quality issues on the first day did not greatly detract from people enjoying the music. 

Day one of the festival kicked off with Unknown Mortal Orchestra playing some nice laid-back psychedelic rock at the impressive new Vines stage. Singer Ruban Nielson’s effective use of harmonizing techniques and a tight rhythm section proved the bands recent critical acclaim is well deserved. It was a good way to welcome people to a party packed full of tasty audio and visual treats.

The Black Seeds then opened the main stage with a tight set of well-rehearsed material that many within the steadily growing audience knew off by heart. With some masterful trumpet and sax solos to really put the icing on the cake, The Black Seeds warm sound is just what's needed for summer fun.

Up next the hard-hitting Home Brew silenced critics with expert rhymes that were lapped up by an enthusiastic audience. Their massive funk and soul infused rap, solid rhythm section and the effortless technical brilliance of Home Brew’s MC’s cemented the Rhythm stage as the place to be.

The supremely talented Kimbra captivated the audience with a number of powerfully delivered hits. Magnificent lighting set the scene with rich ambient hues perfectly matching Kimbra’s exhuberance. It was an impressive and expressive performance with the divas wonderful dynamic range filling the natural amphitheater.

Hugely popular Netsky worked a capacity crowd at the Rhythm stage with some cross over favourites to get the party really started. A satisfactorily worked sound and clean visuals on all three big screens perfectly complementing the liquid funk style of his crisp drum and bass.

Over at the Vines stage Tame Impala belted out some smooth psychedelic rock with a distinct Beatles influence. The Australian band has a cool English 60s sound, helped along by their vintage equipment. The counterpoint of minimalism and warmth was particularly effective.

The drum and bass outfit Knife Party kicked things up a notch with transcendental beats perfectly matched with powerful graphics and a light show from out of this world. Their industrial edge suited the replacement PA system down to a T and Knife Party wasted no time in fully utilising it. 

Booka Shade, along with a number of other excellent DJ’s on all five stages, raised the roof until the small hours of the morning. It was a spectacular start to what promised to be an amazing and eventful three days.

Day Two began with a relaxed set from The Wyld that had beautiful vocal counterpoints and meaningful rhymes interspersed within a fusion of delightfully effective sounds. Their cover of The Black Keys’ A Broken Heart is Blind was extremely cool.

Then it was another tough choice between AHoriBuzz on the Vines stage and the supremely talented Chali 2na on the Rhythm stage. Thanks to some excellent stage management changeovers all ran smoothly and on time. After catching the first half of an outstanding set by AHoriBuzz, it’s a quick hop skip and a jump to the main stage to check out Chali 2na’s rhymes. He’s a former member of the hugely successful group Jurassic 5 and brought all the skills to set the tone with an effective and smooth rapping style. The masterful counterpoint of a soulful falsetto was a cross genre experience not to be missed.

Giving the dance crowd just what they ordered, DJ Breakbot Live set about lifting people’s spirits at the Rhythm stage with a lovely amalgamation of expertly tweaked samples. His clever use of old disco classics with more cutting edge techno was a wonder to behold.

Then, over at the Adidas Originals Cellar, Danny Daze took the robot theme to new heights with phat bass lines to really get the PA pumping. It’s a non-stop roller coaster ride of incredibly good music into the early hours of the morning.

With picturesque blue skies most suited to New Years Eve celebrations, day three of the Rhythm and Vines festival was looking fantastic! Early arrivals to the main event were greeted by the sweet reggae sounds of Soul Society, warming up the Vines stage. The Auckland based eight-piece band cleverly mixed it up with some nice ska and calypso rhythms.

Over at the Rhythm stage The Nudge put on a powerful performance of bluesy goodness. A Hammond organ and rare Gibson guitar added vintage warmth, while a couple of well-recovered drum stick fumbles and clever guitar string resonance techniques added to the overall showmanship.

Ruby Frost put on a stellar performance with lovely clear tones and a cohesive two-piece backing band. The small audience responded well with a number of production and carnival performers coming out to enjoy the atmosphere.

Dave Dobbyn belted out a nice short set full of his iconic and well-loved hits. Accompanied by Lucid 3’s Victoria Girling-Butcher on vocals and guitar, his four-piece band shone with absolute professionalism.

A band that largely cut its teeth at previous Rhythm and Vines festivals more than lived up to expectations. Six60’s Matiu Walters’ warm vocals and Ji Fraser’s soulful guitar solo’s morphed into a synth driven edge that was particularly effective. With great crowd participation especially for Don't Forget Your Roots, Six60 was perhaps the biggest draw card on the bill, and it was great to see them playing to their strengths.

Just as good as he ever was, scratching master P Money put on a grand performance to get the audience jumping. He warmed things up for The Presets who delivered a huge set of electronica to countdown into the New Year. Although there were a few minor timing issues, the computer controlled fireworks display was the best yet. Spectacular!

I also managed to catch some excellent, soulful and heartfelt blues by Louis Baker, some awesome laid back rapping by Coco Solid at the Red Bull Music Academy and an amazing dance performance on the main stage by Vospertron studios. 

The success of the Rhythm and Vines festival comes down to a magic venue, great promotional material and the hard work of dedicated professionals who ensure everybody has a good time. This was a well-organized, family friendly festival with good security, superb site maintenance and only a few arrests for minor incidents.

In all the years the prestigious event has been running there has never been a better lineup and with bigger and brighter stages and an expert selection of internationally and locally renowned artists, Rhythm and Vines was infinitely memorable. 

5/5

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• 5
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  L.A.B.
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• 8
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• 10
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• 1
  APT.
  ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
• 2
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 3
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 4
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 5
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 6
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 7
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 8
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 9
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 10
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan

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