Music News - REVIEW: Rock2Wgtn - An Orgy For The Senses
31 March 2008 - 0 Comments
REVIEW: 2 epic nights, 9 local and international artists, 1 massive dragon, 30 zombie cheerleaders, thousands of black-clad-chemically-enhanced-face-painted munters and acres of empty plastic beer bottles – this was NZ’s arockalypse of the noughties.
After an exhausting and harrowing trek from the mighty Wairarapa to the cake tin on saturday, the assembled and expectant crowd of wimmen, children, hippies, face-painted rockers and assorted bogans gathered. After the sun dropped below the rim of the tin, 6 excellent axe-weilding soloists treated the crowd to one of the best riff-offs I have ever witnessed – I found out later they were in a competition – the last soloist obviously didn’t think much of his performance as he totalled his guitar, but it certainly won over the crowd!
The widely-celebrated dark gods of Finland, Lordi, then offered up their prosthetic-adorned-red-hot-soft-but-hard-heavy-horror-metal goodness to the masses – and were loved in return, and accompanied enthusiastically by those that knew the words. NZ band Sonic Altar then took to the side stage, where they rocked out some solid metal despite some slight sound issues. I really felt for all of the NZ support acts, as they were kind of tucked away to the side, but logistically it was the only way to have a continuous show.
Alice Cooper then took the main stage, and drove it like he stole it. Widely renowned for his theatrics, Rock2Wgtn was no different, Alice was beaten, gave beatings in return, killed a demon baby with a stake, was confined to a straightjacket by a bloodthirsty crowd, and was finally hanged, all the while belting out tunes that have been around longer than most of the crowd.
Auckland-based band Symphony of Screams then took to the side stage, unleashing their bluesy-metal Sabbath/Zeppelin/Kyuss influenced sound on the reeling and rabidly-energized crowd, before KISS strutted out on the main stage in all their face-painted and platformed glory. KISS played a wide-ranging catalog of their last 35 years, unfortunately less of their more well-known tracks in the middle of the set, leaving the crowd wanting more.
Sunday rolled around, a beautiful sunny & still day, the locals all reckoned this was normal. Yeah Right. I ninja’d through the special media gate to avoid the 5 minute line (no kidding, every line was short and moved fairly quickly – Big Day Out, eat your heart out) – scored a t-shirt, beers and a quick feed (again, short, quick lines) and headed down to the pit. The bogans had evolved, and learned from Saturday, and had got there early and camped out at the barrier for the duration. Natural attrition got us a few spots on the pit barrier, where most of my Pirate Ninja Posse hung out for the show.
NZ rockers The Valves treated the crowd this time first up, offering a wide range of radio-friendly anthems, getting the assembled bogans in the mood for some serious rockin. Next band up was Poison – the band I expected to enjoy least – and I must say they surprised me, and I think they were surprised in return by the reception received. Bret and the aged rockers gave it their all, even forgoing the standard encore façade in order to squeeze a bit more love in, swearing they would be back, and soon.
Sonic Altar then retook the side stage, and this time the sound stage was ready. They rocked it. An awesome band, them and the Valves and Symphony beat out 3000-or-so other NZ bands for the honour of playing, check them all out on MySpace and give them your support.
Whitesnake, another collection of aged rockers, hit the stage, and commenced to play a very professional set, entrancing the bogans, encouraging the assorted hippies to kick their heels up, and allowing some middle-aged bogans to reminisce about back-seats. A solid set from the Brit rockers, like just about every other band they wondered why they had taken so long to venture back to our hallowed shores – and promised they would be back.
The highlight of the weekend for most was then finally upon us, the black-clad army of darkness gathered at the temple of Ozzy. Starting the show with a video spectacle lampooning several well-known TV shows and movies (Ozzy as Borat in the 69er scene was by far the crowd favourite) – Ozzy and the band then unleashed some Crazy Train on us, and did not let up. Well, let up a bit. He’s a bit past best by, and some pitchiness and shuffling let him down, but he got into it after a bit. Zakk Wylde cranked out (what felt like) a 20 minute axe solo which I felt was personally awesome, the posse (and what seems like everyone else) reckons it was too long and “boring”. No taste.
Capital C entertainment, and WETA workshop deserve much kudos, they held an excellent and very professional show; largely friendly and courteous security & service staff, ample services or toilets, short lines for everything, well-planned and efficient routes, continuous and awesome special effects & entertainment, and no fenced off drinking areas - all supported by an awesome venue. I heard there was 50,000 bogans there, and still don’t believe it, seriously it seemed like 10-20,000. I must admit that initially I had had my doubts about the cake tin, however as I wandered around the deserted venue before the bogans arrived, breathing in the air of expectation and excitement, and getting a sneak peek at Drusilla – the massive and awe-inspiring dragon – I knew this was to be a very different concert than NZ had ever seen. I was proved right at every turn.
I’m your daddy,
CEO Mong.
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