Rhythm & Vines 08-09 Review by Joe Dodgshun
Julia Deans from Fur Patrol
Rhythm and Vines is an epic summer music festival set in the picturesque valley surrounds of Waiohika Estate near Gisborne, playing over three days, six stages and boasting hundreds of acts. In conjunction with the mayhem counting down to new years in this over-grown adult playground is the five-night BW camping festival along Gisborne's idyllic beaches boasting its own concerts, this time with performances including Kora, Kid Kenobi and Concord Dawn. With holiday revelers swelling Gisborne's population two fold over the new years period, Rhythm and Vines 2008/2009 promised to be one heck of a spectacle.
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We were not disappointed.
Day 1.
With the day's festivities kicking off around one and the skies foreboding with rain clouds, our arrival at around three found Waiohika relatively uncrowded. This simply meant loading money onto AWOP cards (along with cash, the only payment means accepted), and scoring cider was a breeze, so after we climbed the entrance hill and descended into Rhythm valley we arrived just in time to catch Liam Finn, and experience the first of the rain that would plague day one.
Finn rewarded the early crowd with an intensely theatrical performance churning out guitar licks, looping them up, departing to slap the drum-kit silly, breaking from ballads to screaming solos and generally playing off to the dumb-struck and already dripping crowd. After tearing ourselves away from Finns' deft utilization of some kind of proximity box instrument and missing The Mystery Jets due to drunken mates, we caught House of Shem in the natural amphitheatre off the Vines stage area. The seven piece's upbeat reggae stylings managed to get a small crowd dancing despite the persisting wet stuff, proving a ray of light keeping us bouncing until Santogold's set kicked off back over at Rhythm.
A short sprint later a sizable crowd had begun to form before Santogold, who was already pimping the stage looking like a royally appointed air-hostess in a blue and gold jumpsuit, and flanked by two gold-clad back up dancers. Exceptional crowd banter flowed between songs as the songstress plied her unique and soulful vocals set to contrasting modern cuts, and by the time she bid farewell to make way for The Kooks, had the ever-swelling crowd amped up to perfection. In the calm before the British storm, one visitor made the most of the moment, inviting his girlfriend onto stage and dropping down onto one knee to propose. Luckily for our man, she accepted, and as they swept off the stage wearing million-watt grins, the cockney superstars swanned on to massive applause. This was the band the masses had came to see and with the continuing rain the area in front of the stage become a raging, muddy cesspit. Kicking through a seamless set of hits, The Kooks became the instigators of a crazy yet good-natured moshpit with punters going down in crowd surges and coming up ten shades muddier. Brief respite came with their triumphant conclusion and the mainly poncho-clad peoples of R&V occupying a huge swathe of Rhythm valley took a step back to wait for Franz Ferdinand.
When they came they were well worth the wait. After a long hiatus from the airwaves Franz seemed like a band out to prove themselves, and launched into a wrenchingly energetic set of their signature indie/Britpop rock. They proceeded to get thousands jumping with a mixture of classics and newcomers from their upcoming album, cementing crowd euphoria by teasing us into 'Take Me Out', backing directly into the new ripper 'Ulysses' before tearing the rest of the set to shreds. Finally, a sated crowd began to disperse from the main stage, and by this time some of the earthen tracks around R&V had disintegrated into several inches of mud. Particularly bad were those leading across the river to the Cellar and Futureshock stages, and many a face-plant and ass-over-end was seen amongst those heading to the respective dance and indie stages. It took a decent quarter of an hour hike to make it back to the car park where upon seeing the huge lines for buses we were extremely stoked to have a pickup sorted. The party continued on until just after midnight and for much later back at BW campgrounds, but for then we were satisfied with a most excellent start to R&V.
Day 2.
Feeling refreshed after awakening at mid-day, and having a few classy cask wines close-by, we eventually got to a much more populated, and somehow totally dry venue around four. Sadly, we only arrived in time to catch the end of the much-lauded Little Bushman as they flourished instrumental wall of sound as a finale. Moving on and stopping at the Jagermeister stage only long enough to sell our souls, well, new years resolutions anyways, for Jager gear, Rhythm stage was again the destination in order to catch Anika Moa. Cracking jokes and seeming extremely at home in the limelight, highlights included her unexpectedly launching into freestyle rhyming in the middle of 'Boy In Every Town' and attempts to pinch the sideshow dancing girls for her own show. Eventually we left to go see Ladi6, however, upon arrival it turned out she had been switched with Recloose, whose funked out live set with a huge band and MC Lisa Tomlins was an infectiously catchy good time regardless, predominantly fleshing out tracks from his Vodafone NZ music award winning album 'Perfect Timing'. Then it was back past the snaking waterslide (entry free if naked) to check out soft-core electro rockers Cut Copy.
Public Enemy
Admittedly, they initially seemed to lack impetus, but as their performance progressed they got the smallish crowd into the party spirit and for an Aussie band relatively unknown in New Zealand they managed to convince an increasing number to go nuts. It was difficult to see how they managed to create their live sound with only four members on stage, so either these guys are incredibly talented or they had some kind of backing loops ringing through, but in any event everyone was dancing so no-one cared. Afterwards everyone waited. And waited. And just for fun, waited a little more. For Public Enemy were nowhere to be seen, in fact, the only movement on stage was a guy in a skeleton suit goose-stepping in and around the amps. Suddenly the skeletal hoodie was unzipped and there stood rapper Flava Flav complete with low-slung clock around his neck, flanked by two marching soldiers. Soon joined by Chuck D, ironically the superstars launched into their hit 'Forget The Hype' and soon proved to be the consummate entertainers. Whipping the huge crowd into a fervent frenzy, the majority of the valley was soon full and they claimed much kudos from locals when they invited a youth dance group Uawa TNT onto stage, and got roars of approval with a diatribe against President GW Bush.
We were, however, presented with somewhat of a problem. The sheer volume and quality of the entertainment at R&V meant that within the space of a short couple of hours in addition to Public Enemy, Ladyhawke and French house legend Busy P were also playing. Having seen my fill of hip-hop action, I legged it over to the Cellar stage where Busy P and DJ Medhi were already raging behind the decks under a large stand of trees (which some nutter would later decide to climb). What followed was some of the tightest mixing I have ever seen or heard, weaving tracks from Justice and Daft Punk, both of whom he has produced, in addition to Basement Jaxx and many others, reducing the deliriously happy punters to a swirling mass of glowsticks twisting in time with sublime beats.
Part way through I darted off to Futureshock stage to catch the later half of The Naked And Famous!, a New Zealand band who are destined for big things. Taking the hyperactive dissonance of The Mint Chicks, and tempering it with introspective wit and synth-laced guitar, their late time slot sadly meant they were competing with a number of heavyweight acts and were faced with an undeservedly small crowd. The indie cutters still pulled off a hectically paced set, and they could at least find solace in the dedication of those hard-core fans drawn to see them. Skipping back to enjoy the remainder of Busy P, the Cellar stage had certainly swelled with the culmination of Public Enemy and the late cancellation of British act Late of the Pier, but was not too overcrowded as DJ Nu-Mark (Jurassic 5) was set to follow over at Rhythm. Following the reluctant end of Busy P, it was back over to Futureshock again, just in time to see Die!Die!Die! go all out for the masses who had rolled in for their final song, culminating with the excitable guitarist smashing his gear through the drum kit. Deciding to quit on a high note, we left again just after midnight, eagerly anticipating the monster of a day to come.
Day 3.
Extra recovery time was granted to the weary and wounded on day three as R&V wasn't set to open until 5pm, from which point it would take a mammoth effort to carry through to closing at around 8 or 9am the next day. So it was after six that we found ourselves rambling through a cornfield shortcut, finally making it there by seven just in time to miss The Tutts. A shame it is true, but considering Fur Patrol had just kicked off, a fiery set from the ever-stunning Julia Deans and co. more than made up for this, proving popular with the fairly thin spread of early comers making the most of the balmy heat. Not missing a beat, next The Black Seeds stepped up infusing the summer evening with their potent mix of reggae, funky dub and big band styles, drawing hordes in for the beginning of the end of 2008. Churning through sing/slur along summer essential tunes, by the time light was fading Rhythm valley exuded an awesome chilled out vibe, yet the palpable excitement amongst those dancing, chilling in the free hammock tents and covering the slopes of Waiohika was nonetheless electric.
Taking this vibe, The Datsuns proceeded to shred it to pieces, getting punters charging, throwing fists in the air and jumping to the raw energy of the kiwi lads made good. The formation of a brutal circle of death in the mosh-pit signaled that the majority of R&V revelers had arrived, and were damn determined to get loose. The reception of their new material was glorious, but paled like an albino in comparison to songs like 'Stuck Here For Days' and 'System Overload'. The crowd craziness soon got too much for some, so like many, we climbed up to the hammocks to safely enjoy the view. After an unsuccessful sojourn for drinks where we were gutted to learn they had ran out of cider (the cheapest overall in terms of overpriced alcohol), we infiltrated the heaving masses in time to catch Shihad. With tens of thousands of people having the same idea, the intensity of the crush became unbelievable, everyone keen to pay homage to the fathers of NZ rock. The 'had quickly showed why they are our premier live rockers, ripping through a seemingly inexhaustible list of iconic songs, each whipping the crowd into more of a furious state of glee than before. The Shihad boys lapped up the attention, the occasion all the more special due to it being their 21st anniversary together, Jon Toogood jesting that they should do a yardie. By this stage the front was predominantly inhabited by drunken males, and any girls in there were receiving a massive hammering with songs like 'Comfort Me' and 'The General Electric' inciting major havoc and epic shout-along choruses. But it was near the end when they broke out one of their original metal numbers, 'Screwtop', when everyone went absolutely mental. I was quite disappointed to get crowd surfed/pulled out of the front and so had to scramble back through towards the front for the final song of 2008 'One Will Hear The Other', the crowd ecstatically roaring the words back at the band.
R&V Sunrise
Following the departure of Shihad, fire performers took to the stage and minutes later the packed out valley were counting down the seconds, and when the huge display hit zero hour, Waiohika estate was illuminated by an astounding barrage of fireworks. Meanwhile, several performers walked onto the stage bearing flamethrowers creating scything lines of fire in the sky, artists twirled fire poi, a stilt performer strapped with fireworks emitting fountains of sparks stalked the stage, while over twenty thousand people yelled their welcome to the new year. The pyrotechnics and performers were so extravagant that one mate became convinced a revolution was taking place and ran for the hills to take cover. Set up after this, internationally renowned DJ Carl Cox was unleashed on the stoking crowd, immediately getting them dancing in the euphoric afterglow of the last fireworks. In the whirlwind next few hours of running up and falling down hills, jumping fences into VIP areas and raging with glow-sticks, music kept on playing on all stages, eventually closing down so that only the Vines and Cellar stages remained playing.
Luckily, due to a mess up of timetables we were able to catch Digitalism at around 3am over at Vines stage. The German duo kept the party alive with searing electronica in the grassed amphitheatre, which was pretty much at capacity with the closure of the other stages. Following the end of Digitalism it was back over to Cellar stage for some early morning shape cutting, then fancying a bit of a power-nap, headed to the hammocks and checked out the stars. Departing the hammocks the sky had begun to brighten, and by the time we had made it to Vines stage the sun was threatening to burst over the hills. Vines had become the final stage by this point, and the remnants of the hardcore element were congregated at its base partying the final stretch of the festival.
As we walked down entrance hill and out of R&V totally spent and fully satisfied, with the first rays of 2009 beaming up, we knew one thing for sure.
We would definitely be back again.
-Joe Dodgshun