Homegrown 2013 Review
The 2nd of March brought the annual Homegrown festival to Wellington once more and I headed along to get some photos, check out some bands I hadn’t seen live before and soak up the atmosphere of 17,000 happy music fans enjoying the best of our local talent.
Last year I seemed to spend most of my time at the Rock Stage, so this year I thought I’d try and check out the stages where I wouldn’t normally hang out. Here are my highlights of the day.
The Babysitters Circus really surprised me with their set. I only knew that one song of theirs that was all over the radio and TV last year until everyone got sick of it, so I wasn’t expecting much. But I ended up catching the end of their set after North Shore Pony Club’s set turned out to be more a DJ/laptop thing.
Clap Clap Riot were great on the rock stage in the early afternoon. I really liked their album from last year so I’d been hoping to see them live sometime. They didn’t disappoint, ripping through tracks from the album and putting on a good show for the couple of hundred excited people watching. It was good to see so many people getting into it so early on.
AHoriBuzz were one of my favourite acts of the day and it was good to see them on a bigger stage this year. The band looked like they were having a great time on stage, and the crowd was loving it – particularly when they came back for an encore, playing a version of Hey Joe directed at the Prime Minister.
Home Brew pulled a huge crowd last year and this year was no different. The audience were singing along, screaming and getting pretty worked up when the group took the stage. Their set seemed to mark a turning point in the day, and the crowds swelled after that (as did the number of stumbling drunk people).
Cairo Knife Fight are always good to watch, and despite putting everything into his set with AHoriBuzz, Aaron Tokona managed to still stomp around the stage like a true rockstar.
I’ve been hearing a lot about Aaradhna lately, and I’ve been enjoying her singles, so it was nice to be able to see her live performance. She’s got a great voice, and knows how to own the stage. A real professional show.
The Black Seeds are always a crowd favourite in Wellington, and having missed last years’ Homegrown I think the crowd was extra-excited to see them back, with their tent almost full.
Minuit seem to always come up with something a bit different when they play Homegrown, playing with a gamelan orchestra. This year they pulled out an entire brass band to support them, adding another layer to familiar songs.
Kora seemed to have the loudest set, with their songs able to be clearly heard a long distance away. The noise seemed to attract more fans, with the dub and roots tent being absolutely packed when they played. They sounded awesome, and really got things amped up for Shapeshifter, who closed the night on that stage.
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