Raggamuffin IX, Auckland NZ, 2016

Raggamuffin IX

20th February 2016
The Trusts Arena, Auckland, New Zealand

Raggamuffin Festival is one of the longest continuously running music festivals in New Zealand, originally held in Rotorua before making the move to be held in Auckland in 2015. I had fond memories of the last year I covered Raggamuffin (2009), when I road tripped through to Rotorua to spend the day in the sun shooting one of the most relaxed, laid back festivals I’d ever attended. I was keen to see how the newer, more hip-hop based Auckland festival would compare. In terms of crowd numbers the differences were astounding – the stadium was filled by 3pm and continued to be packed all the way through to the end of Wu-Tang Clan’s epic set (a mass exodus occurred at the start of UB40’s set – perhaps a sign they might not have been the best choice of headliners).

Standout performances for me were Savage (he deserved a much bigger audience than he received occupying an early slot on the bill), House of Pain, Boo-Ya T.R.I.B.E., Macy Gray and of course The Wu-Tang Clan. Special mention must also go to Xzibit for managing to put on such a rowdy performance that he turned an angry crowd around in the space of a song after the news that The Game wouldn’t be performing at Raggamuffin this year. It has become clear that there just isn’t enough big Reggae based acts to support Raggamuffin year after year, so including many more rap and hip-hop artists than usual this year has been an inspired decision – if not at the expense of some of the relaxed “good times” vibes that a purely reggae festival will provide. Overall, while the original spirit of Raggamuffin is barely struggling to hold on – the newer, bigger version of Raggamuffin is an exciting, action packed day and I for one can’t wait to see what it evolves into for next year’s edition.