Good Vibes Festival
7th August 2020
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kirk Lafferty. Photography by Doug Peters.
Driving towards the iconic “Logan Concrete Centre” I am filled with anticipation about the night to come, an epic line-up for the Auckland session of the Good Vibes Festival. Like many a festival line up there are the bands you have seen before (in my case over half of them in different versions over the years), the ones you love (Che Fu – my soundtrack to the 90’s), then there are the ones you have always wanted to see but never had the chance (for me, Stan Walker) and if your lucky the surprises that are new to you and make you wonder if you had been hiding under a rock somewhere and somehow missed hearing about them (Three Houses Down with General Fiyah).
I chose to change my normal Whammy / Wine Cellar blacks for a more invisible Hoodie to try and meld into the crowd a bit. I needn’t have bothered. The crowd was welcoming to all – right from the outset in the line outside it was all smiles and good vibes and unsurprisingly the faint smell of herb in the air. Past the earthy smells of Hangi sliders and Taniwha burgers I entered into the realm of all things Reggae in its various forms. It is, as one t-shirt reminded me the 40th anniversary of the release of Redemption song after all. I felt oddly at ease in this crowd, you see as a friend recently pointed out to me – You can take the boy out of South Auckland but you can’t take the South Auckland out of the boy. And this boy has even taken his love of this music genre far enough to have ventured to Jamaica on a Reggae pilgrimage in years gone by.
Lomez Brown was playing when I entered the concrete box. A big man, one of many throughout the night, with a beautifully sweet voice. Remember big is beautiful in this the largest of Polynesian cities. “Do you love reggae music? Say yeah,” he asks the crowd. The crowd obliges with a positive murmur. I always feel for the first live acts on a line up. The place was still only 1/3 full and it takes a bit to get them warmed up. Also the sound is never quite right at this stage as those mammoth speakers are designed to bounce off and get sucked up by a crowd of people – not a half empty shell. He did a good job of warming them up as did the DJ throughout the night. Luckily this would turn out to be a very welcoming crowd with good vibes all round.
Che Fu was up next and playing to the crowd that had now doubled but was still not quite full. This is New Zealand’s father of Hip Hop and he delivered song after song of his successful repertoire which it seemed most in the crowd new all the lyrics to and sang along. Singing along became a theme for the night with this friendly mob. The sound was getting better but still a little echo bass heavy. The scratch work on the decks classically reminded me of the origins of hip hop and was pulled of with style. Misty frequencies stood out but the song the lyrics that lifted the night for me had to be – Chains.
Come break my chains, come help me out, living in the city ain’t so bad.
And it ain’t is it? The only place in the world safe enough to hold concerts like this. Damn we are lucky.
Ardijah were up next. I set up a stage for this family of a band back in Otara in the early nineties. I tried hard to remember an individual song from that time years ago and couldn’t but did remember the beautiful Betty Anne’s voice and Ryan Monga’s slap polyfunk bass style. However, when they first came on the bass style was different. I soon realized when they swapped instruments mid set that it was the son Kaitapu Monga playing not the father (they are equally talented I must say!). Their set was mostly covers and was pulled off professionally – and for me a little bit of a time warp. For a band who has been around for over 40 years they have stood the test of time. Their recent release of ‘Every Night’ – a Paul McCartney song from the 1970’s was rendered in true polyfunk style.
My new find of the night was General Fiyah feat. Three Houses Down. This kid has really got it. He’s got the moves, the voice and had the crowd in awe right from when he danced on to stage in true Michael Jackson style. The Band itself were great in their own right and would show so later in the set but the two together sealed a thoroughly professional and slick act. With 11 people on stage they had me singing along to U2’s ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ which considering I’m not even a fan of U2 was some mean feat to pull off. He shouted out “live your culture!”, which seemed entirely appropriate for this crowd. The end of the set had a great rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘Could You Be Loved’.
Stan Walker was up next with a Super Star set, Maori dancers complete with Taiaha challenging the audience from the start. I am familiar with Stan Walkers story – from Once Were Warrior’s like beginnings to near super stardom in Australia and New Zealand. Whatever made this beautiful voice come out and the pure mana of this man we owe a thanks. The lights, sound, songs were all faultless. I found myself saying “Oh my god” on one occasion which is funny as I am certainly not a religious person. This heart throb deserves every accolade he is bestowed. He brings Te Reo to the forefront and to be honest it’s such a beautiful language with all its vowels that it deserves to be sung. The band was also super slick. They had some backing vocals that seemed to mysteriously come from no-where which in this time of samples is fine but I did have to look around the stage to see if maybe there was some hidden backing singers hiding around the stage somewhere. I arrived not familiar with his songs but being familiar with his reputation and by the end I was sold. This was a great main act in an awesome line up which had many a girl around me drawling and screaming in crowd driven ecstasy. My favourite of his was a cover of Sam Cooke’s 1964 song; a change is going to come. In saying that every song in this set was a banger.
Following this the MC for the night and DJ had the whole audience singing. Not something I have seen a lot on this level. As the promoter’s idea sold itself Good Vibes were flowing throughout the building.
Katchafire were up next. ‘Get away’ had the serious fans hooked from the start. What followed was a slick set by a big eight piece band. Not quite as big as the eleven people on stage for Three Houses Down whom they seemed to share a couple of brass players with. Like all of the bands on the night they did not let up and 5 hours into a gig this is not an easy task to muster. I am, and have always been, a fan of this group who originally were a Bob Marley tribute band. They have come along way from those early days in Hamilton. Bob Marley I am sure would approve!
It was after midnight when Kora hit the stage to a dwindling but still fairly full crowd. The thing that really stood out for me was Marika Hodgson’s bass playing which was a rolling train of notes with enough space between the beats to really appreciate the music. This band understands space well and does it with precision which is quite hard for an eight piece. The bass players throughout the night really stood out to me. Many playing on 5 string basses and holding it together for much larger big band groups.
Before finishing I have one last act to appreciate. The crowd. It is beautiful thing to be amongst a crowd at a gig in these crazy covid times when the rest the world is in chaos. But it is an especially beautiful thing to be amongst an audience who will without very much coaching willingly sing out loud not only with the bands, but between the bands in such a lovely good Vibe way.
Five stars for this Festival, from the happy security guards to the delicious Maori food, from the greatest of NZ’s reggae offerings to a crowd that sings. Ka Pai!
Were you there at Logan Campbell Centre for this magnificent Good Vibes Festival? Or have you seen any of the acts on the bill somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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