09 Feb 2018 // A review by Freecell
Salmonella Dub are multiple platinum album sellers and award winners famous for their Dub n' Bass sound an important part of New Zealand's music history. This show was about the band reuniting with
Tiki Taane.
Our journey starts at Owen Delaney Park in Taupo with the concert starting from 2pm and ending at 10:30pm a whole day concert event. A kid friendly concert which had lots of parents out with their kids and picnic blankets, with Salmonella Dub as the headliner it was their final show of their anniversary with support from
Dylan C,
Sunshine Sound System with
Laughton Kora,
Soulware,
L.A.B.,
Ladi6 and TrinityRoots.
First up was Dylan C playing a mix up of Funk, Hip hop, Dub and DnB. My first impression of the Sound system was strong and clear with Big Bass. It showed that they had good sound engineers as the bass and full sound could be heard from the Grandstand very easily. The bass frequency was very deep and heavy it was a high quality sound system with a lot of power.
Sunshine Sound System played some cool beats of Dub, Hip hop remixes, trap and DnB with Laughton Kora on the Mic he was good at hyping up the crowd. There was some very lucky kids dancing up on the stage too. Next up was Soulware Their sound was deep and smooth with loads of bass. Played a killer set.
L.A.B. was a favourite from northern bass. They were high energy slick musicians. Their sound made the crowd dance. skanking vibes, they sounded great! they were awesome as usual. L.A.B got the place going. Dylan C carried on the momentum from L.A.B's set playing some more bass heavy Dub, Hip-Hop the crowd was really packing out now, there was more people arriving. Great vibes from the crowd, everyone was friendly and accommodating when trying to get around the site.
TrinityRoots played some deep Dub n Bass tunes they sounded very good,
Hollie Smith made an appearance on one of their songs. They did a brilliant version of
No Diggity. They played another remix of a Radiohead song? with a massive breakdown instrumental. Their sound slowed the dance floor but their vibes were deep and soulful, they performed well. Sunshine Sound System played more awesome bass remixes with Laughton Kora.
As I were sitting at the Grandstand Ladi6 started her set. Woah! The bass was vibrating the whole grandstand anything metal would be vibrating it seemed.. She performed really well, had the dance floor moving again. She is a great performer I have seen her play at many festivals, she always delivers the goods. A great asset. She was wearing all pink, dancing and hyping up the crowd. I moved back down to the stage and the vibes on the dance floor were on point! The groove was on. Her last track was
Walk Right Up. Waiting in line for food, Sunshine Sound System with Laughton Kora were the last act before Salmonella Dub, they started playing some Hip-Hop remixes and then they played some Drum n Bass and it was funny to see the whole place come alive, and people started dancing.
Taupo is a beautiful place, the stage had Mt Tauhara in the background was a good location for the concert. There were some cold winds coming through as the sun went down and that was the point Salmonella Dub's intro begun. Their visualisations were impressive with random images of their past and all sorts very interesting stuff. The crowd embraced the band, it was quite exciting to see an 8 piece Salmonella Dub with
Tiki Taane the sound quality was on point! It sounded amazing. They played many songs from
Problems to
Slide to
Love Your Ways to name a few. All instruments sounded brilliant like the brass section to the drums. Tiki was singing and playing a Digital drum machine on stage.
It was the first time I had seen Salmonella Dub play Live. I was amazed at the guitarist, the sounds he was making I had always thought it was done on a keyboard. His guitar was loaded up with lots of delay effects and all sorts it was full on!
We were dancing to keep warm but when they played
Push On Through the crowd was going off! all dancing, singing and clapping. There were even tracks from 1994 they had a lot of history and they had created a set list that covered all their most famous tracks and also their own favourites. They played a truly amazing show with lots of happy cheers from the crowd it was emotional.
Fuzen did a great job with this one. It makes me want to create an ultimate Salmonella Dub playlist to listen to in my car!! The amount of history that this band has covered is astonishing. It would be awesome to see them all together again on their 30th anniversary.
Review written by Kerry Kingi