SOUTHERN AMP ROCKS WHILE THE LOCALS SLEEP
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:40 pm

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Southern Amp rocked with a huge line-up of talent from NZ and Aus last Saturday in Christchurch. I’m not from Christchurch and certainly no Crusader’s rugby fan, so there’s no one-eyed Cantabrian bias here.

Southern Amp with its awesome line-up of music ROCKED! Im a huge Big Day Out fan, but this was almost better, quality music, crowded but with room to breath and mosh without getting totally beaten & crushed. Like BDO was 6 or so years ago!

The only issue seemed to be the crowd, which with a line-up like this should have to be bigger. So, were the locals? Everyone I meet was from Dunedin, Queenstown, Nelson, Wellington, Auckland, even Inver-bloody-cargill!!

The concert had a huge line up... The Bleeders (who replaced HooDoo Gurus at the last minuite,…not that I’m complaining!), Gasoline Cowboys, Steriogram, The D4, Pluto, End of Fashion, Breaks Co-op, Spiderbait, Elemeno P, Blindspott, and big guns The Living End.

The Ministry of Sound tent saw the talented Christchurch locals Nacoa & Switch, warm it up for the fantastic Sola Rosa. Then the trusted quality of Kiwi Hiphop legends saw DJ Sir Vere & MC MZRE, King Kapisi, Savage and the Deceptikonz keep the tent pumping.

Tim Phin, Mark Dynamix then showed how DeeJays do it with their top shelf MOS mixes. The very original Minuit gave a spectacular live performace, then the legendary Aussie DJ’s Kid Kenobi and MC Shureshock signed off the days events in solid Ministry of Sound style.

The Rock stage kicked off with Auzzie rockers Gasoline Cowboys and by the time Steriogram hit the main rock stage they had the crowd that had arrived rocking, the dynamic white 'rap star' front man Tyson Kennedy knows how to entertain. Even if their music isn’t your cup of tea, when these boys are live on stage you can feel their energy. And from the way they had the crowd up and moving at Southern Amp I’m sure they converted more than a few new fans!

The hard-rocking D4 keep the music fast and LOUD (so loud Im sure the Southern Alps sunk a few inches and noise complaints definitely followed). Then Pluto arrived (think ‘Rockstar’ and visualize: long hair, super tight jeans, leather and attitude) and brought their own quality brand of sound, wrapping up with the popular Long White Cross. Auzzie rockers End of Fashion continued the rollicking with their gothic-ish infectious thumping beats and had the crowd singing along with their hit ‘Oh Yeah’.

Breaks Co-op seemed to struggle at first (perhaps a bit mellow to be thrown amongst this rock line-up) but once the crowd recognized their songs, especially the ‘folky’ hit ‘The Otherside’ they settled down and enjoyed the suns first serious appearance of the day.

Spiderbait hit the stage and turned up the volume with their cracking set of killer riffs and machine-gun-deadly rhythms. They are called the new ACDC and they certainly live up to this complement when their live performance. Their cover of the Ram Jam classic ‘Black Betty’ was fantastic and certainly a HUGE hit with the crowd.

Then the well know Elemeno P rocked up and delivered a solid performance with their anthemic songs. The crowd was instantly up and singing along, to the hits “Veronia” and the classic "Fast Times in Tahoe". The lines "they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder/ But I doubt it I really doubt it/ playing ping pong over oceans/ messing with emotions messing with my head", echoed through the crowd even after the band left the stage.

The headliners The Living End demonstrated their experience with a quality performance and a rocking super-tight set. Complete with punk dress-up suits these boys and their original pure-punk rockabilly sound rocked.

The Southern Amp festival was definitely a thought-out event, with a fantastic set-up on the main rock stage and also in the Ministry of Sound tent. No complaints with the venue either, QEII could have been made for this.

Credit is due to the organizers and radio stations (The Rock and ZM) for their obvious (although very self-branded) promotional efforts.

This is one of the only music festivals with a well known line-up to brave a visit to the South Island in a long time. If locals won’t support events like this - they won’t happen. And the North Island will gladly take them off your hands!



This message was edited by Grid on Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:41 pm.

RE: SOUTHERN AMP ROCKS WHILE THE LOCALS SLEEP
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:14 pm

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Nice review!

RE: SOUTHERN AMP ROCKS WHILE THE LOCALS SLEEP
Posted: Fri Dec 8, 2006 12:38 pm

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