Splore is nestled in the beaches and banks of Tapapanka Regional Park, and every two years is home to 6,000 odd party goers who come prepared for a weekend of music, arts and partying. It is also no coincidence that Splore is scheduled for the peak of the New Zealand summer, where swimming, dancing, eating, laughing and drinking (and in many cases a combination of them all) are enjoyed under the summer sun, helping the 2010 event live up to its reputation as the “Ultimate Summer Romp.” But it’s also a great place to spot some interesting people, catch up with old friends and make plenty of new ones.

Music wise the festival directors put together a crazy concoction of local and international acts, all various genres but with a core of live dub and reggae, hip hop and electronica. Many artists and performers also prepare special shows and artwork especially for the event, leaving festival goers the opportunity to interact with the art at their own time and leisure. The arts trail up above the music stages was host to robots, a lifesize playable zylaphone, giant indigenous trees all dressed up, and all sorts of sculptures. A night time experience was totally different then during the day as there was a whole range of lighting effects over the massive trees and sculptures, as well as circus acrobats, lanterns and people just out there generally to shock and scare.

On the first night our group took the short walk from the campsite down into the main stage area where Lupe Fiasco was performing on the main stage as the sun went down. His set was aggressive, loud and got the crowd going. Also headlining on the first night was Basement Jaxx, playing a DJ set that got people going at some stages, but seemed a little disjointed and under-whelming overall.

The Saturday afternoon saw a great line up of bands take the main stage, first up Electric Wire Hussle and their future funk . These guys are awesome and totally underrated, Next was Auckland based-African fusion band Zoh Zoh, who thanks to their roots have a great African percussionanist flavour ,with a reggae twist. They were followed by Dunedin lads Six60 who looked like they were having great fun on stage mixing up their reggae numbers with booming hip hop covers and shapeshifter –esque live drum n bass.

Next I heading back to the campsite for drinks, bbq and chill time getting ready for the next nights entertainment. There was a dress up theme, `A Mid Summer’s Night’s Dream, 2050’ and people at my campsite put an amazing amount of effort in. There was all sorts of fairys, robots and other wilder beasts ready to scare, dazzle and surprise.

The first act I checked out this night was Mystro and Mikki Dee playing some UK hip hop and setting the tone. I knew Mystro already from his work with the Loop Recordings Album `Yes King.’ He is one of my favourite MC’s and didn’t disappoint. The video below is the song `One of those days.’

Later that night I had a conversation with some girls who told me that the music wasn’t really that great, and Pitch Black were so-so. I guess that’s one of the good things about Splore – something for everyone. I just smiled as I knew these girls were in nappies when Pitch Black dominated The Gatherings in the late 90’s early 00’s, this set wasn’t a throwback to then, as they have got even better. Paddy Free does this amazing solo when he makes a drum beat on keyboard/MPC and then loops it live. It sounds totally amazing. Check out the video of their last song of the night.

The rest of the night was rounded out with Nikodemus and 10 Sui at the DJ stage, and this went down well for those still up partying.

Sunday was a chance to unwind and enjoy a few beers and soak up the sun, a rustic bar that I had several encounters with over the festival was the venue - The Rum Shack. It even came with a fresh lagoon out the bag of it. Very Marlborough-Sounds-esque with the mussel boys (and rum). Then back to the main stage, fittingly the final song of the festival I even managed to spot the man with a cult following `Yellow Pants Man’ who danced us all out a special number to finish.