Bay Dreams Festival
2nd January 2017
ASB Baypark Stadium, Tauranga, New Zealand
Review by Sammi Sinister and Photography by Matt Henry Photography.
If scantily clad, sweat stained and smelly, barely-out-of-their-teens people jammed chocka block into Baypark Stadium (plus some great music!) is what you call a good time, then by crikey, Bay Dreams was where the party was at!!
With 40 acts over 4 stages, there was a huge variety of music genres to please even the most fussy of people. From local homegrown musical talent to overseas artists, there was so much to choose from. The main stage was where it was at though, with throngs of festival goers pushing their way to the front of the mosh pit to get the best view, never mind trampling the smaller people on the way through. There were numerous people being pulled from the pit by security to escape before being pummelled to the ground and were quickly ushered to the outskirts of the crowd to recover.
There were a few technical issues with a couple of the acts, noticeably the long wait in between Kora and Sticky Fingers, so the staff on site brought in some boxes and handed out bottles of water to the melting audience to help cool them down.
Definitely the main headline act of the day for me was Yelawolf (aka Catfish Billy, aka M.W.A., aka The Ghetto Cowboy…). Or as his mother called him, Michael Wayne Atha. He made a brief appearance earlier on in the day when Three 6 Mafia was on stage, taking the place of Bizzy Bone who was unable to make it, which delighted fans no end having got a little taster of what was to come later on.
Come 7pm, Sticky Fingers finished their set and headed off stage. One of the Slumerican entourage came out and threw a Yelawolf skateboard deck into the crowd, riling them up and getting them chanting. Yela started with a bang and finished with a bang. The energy and enthusiasm was contagious, not only for the crowd, but also the media crew, and the crew on stage, who could be seen dancing and singing along to this lyrical genius we now know as M.W.A.
Something that really impressed me was the range of songs Yelawolf performed, from his older songs like “Pop the Trunk” and “Daddys Lambo” which got the crowd wild, to newer tracks like “Til it’s Gone”. There was a collab with 3 6 Mafia, and a dedication to Yela’s good friend Travis Barker (drummer from Blink 182), which resulted in a highly energetic version of “Push Em”.
All in all it was an epic performance, one that will be talked about for months to come no doubt. It finished off with Yela and a Slumerican pal spraying bottles of champagne over everyone, dry ice blasting into the air and the two of them jumping into the crowd. If that’s not a stand up performance, then I don’t know what is!
Were you there in Tauranga for this amazing festival? Or have you been to Bay Dreams on other years? Tell me about it in the comments below!