Homegrown 2009 There is something vibrant about Wellington, and it’s very hard to beat on a good day, and what a good day we got. Slowly heating up until the sun was funnelling down on our small walk from Mt Vic down to the waterfront. A good solid crew of about 15 of us all converged firstly just hear the tail end of Katchafire play. Unfortunately nothing to report here, but we did listen to the first Sunshine Soundsystem set, and from the middle of the Dub and Roots stage, the sound system was loud and good. Now it was refuelling time, the intial crew split into a few mini-drinking teams, scuttering around catching up with various friends who had all converged for Homegrown. Tommy and I went to check out some breakdancing outside at the Amplitheatre stage. Finding a nice sunny spot we saw the last of the bikini contest, then the heats of the best break dancing crews New Zealand has to offer. Big ups to the guy/girl team, and the father/son teams! Back to the Dub/Roots stage where it was time to seriously neck back some Speights Summit (only beer on offer). The drinking lines were well organised making it easy to queue without pushing and shoving. We had a nice spot on the bank to listen to Tiki’s set, it sounded ok, quite hard for the early afternoon, he is still yet to win me over with his live shows as yet… I think he is still to find the right structure and flow to move between drum and bass, reggae ,hip hop and his industrial rock. Next up was the Black Seeds. They sounded crisp, clear and played with typical tight cohesion. As a big Black Seeds fan I was hoping for a slightly edgier set list, but being a festival we got a bit of a greatest hits package. Highlights in their set was `Fire’ `The Prince’ and `One Step at a Time.’ Kora were next, and their sound was noisey, distorted but very original. I think they also suffered from a big gig kind of sound, lots of heavy guitar and keyboard distortion..not much soft sound, which I think they also do well. Brad Kora continues to be a great co-front man though, teasing the audience with plans for their new album, and letting the audience know how lucky they are that this is the last gig in this chapter of the band before a new album. Set highlights were `Skankenstein’ and `On My Mind.’ K.P from Sunshine Soundsystem then had the easy job of amping the crowd for Shapeshifter, by this point there wasn’t much space to move around, Face and I parked up about 15 metres from the front of the stage during Kora so had a good spot. They played the same opening song as they did in Nelson in early January. In fact it was a very similar set to this but didn’t have the same sound quality or surprise to it. Still an amazing festival closer and they really create an amping contagious atmosphere. Set highlights were the new song `Hold On’ and `One.’ Big ups to the crew who shared the day with me, John Meikle for his photos and for Wellington for hosting us.

Homegrown 2009

There is something vibrant about Wellington, and it’s very hard to beat on a good day, and what a good day we got. Slowly heating up until the sun was funnelling down on our small walk from Mt Vic down to the waterfront. A good solid crew of about 15 of us all converged firstly just hear the tail end of Katchafire play. Unfortunately nothing to report here, but we did listen to the first Sunshine Soundsystem set, and from the middle of the Dub and Roots stage, the sound system was loud and good.

Now it was refuelling time, the intial crew split into a few mini-drinking teams, scuttering around catching up with various friends who had all converged for Homegrown. Tommy and I went to check out some breakdancing outside at the Amplitheatre stage. Finding a nice sunny spot we saw the last of the bikini contest, then the heats of the best break dancing crews New Zealand has to offer. Big ups to the guy/girl team, and the father/son teams!

Back to the Dub/Roots stage where it was time to seriously neck back some Speights Summit (only beer on offer). The drinking lines were well organised making it easy to queue without pushing and shoving. We had a nice spot on the bank to listen to Tiki’s set, it sounded ok, quite hard for the early afternoon, he is still yet to win me over with his live shows as yet… I think he is still to find the right structure and flow to move between drum and bass, reggae ,hip hop and his industrial rock.

Next up was the Black Seeds. They sounded crisp, clear and played with typical tight cohesion. As a big Black Seeds fan I was hoping for a slightly edgier set list, but being a festival we got a bit of a greatest hits package. Highlights in their set was `Fire’ `The Prince’ and `One Step at a Time.’

Kora were next, and their sound was noisey, distorted but very original. I think they also suffered from a big gig kind of sound, lots of heavy guitar and keyboard distortion..not much soft sound, which I think they also do well. Brad Kora continues to be a great co-front man though, teasing the audience with plans for their new album, and letting the audience know how lucky they are that this is the last gig in this chapter of the band before a new album. Set highlights were `Skankenstein’ and `On My Mind.’

K.P from Sunshine Soundsystem then had the easy job of amping the crowd for Shapeshifter, by this point there wasn’t much space to move around, Face and I parked up about 15 metres from the front of the stage during Kora so had a good spot. They played the same opening song as they did in Nelson in early January. In fact it was a very similar set to this but didn’t have the same sound quality or surprise to it. Still an amazing festival closer and they really create an amping contagious atmosphere. Set highlights were the new song `Hold On’ and `One.’

Big ups to the crew who shared the day with me, John Meikle for his photos and for Wellington for hosting us.