Homegrown sounds off
BY SIMON SWEETMAN
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OPINION: Wellington's waterfront became centre-stage for thousands of music lovers as the sound of Kiwiana filled the city, for Saturday's second Vodafone Homegrown concert.
It was a party whichever stage you chose to spend the final hour of this day-long celebration of New Zealand bands and DJs.
Concord Dawn closed the "Atmospheric Stage" with a barrage of beats, Shapeshifter's smooth-building drum and bass sealed off the dub and roots stage, the rock stage was headlined by Supergroove's unique brand of pop-funk and Kiwi-accented rap.
And, closing the indie stage was the reformed Head Like a Hole nearly 10 years after the band called it quits.
Led by Booga Beazley's rock-star antics, they pumped out a full-on set of sleazy, sludgy rock and metal with the iconic cover of Bruce Springsteen's I'm on Fire following their original "hits" Faster Hooves, Comfortably Shagged, A Crying Shame and Fish Across Face.
It was nice to have the Wellington rockers introduced to a younger generation even though it seemed to be mostly the older Homegrown fans watching Booga and the boys.
Earlier, Shayne Carter's Dimmer worked through songs from the group's diverse set of albums, Carter wringing his guitar for all it was worth.
The huge live sound of Kora was a winner for the dub and roots crowd while Opshop and Evermore played accessible pop-rock, a bit bland and uninspired for me but the bands seemed to be mostly preaching to the converted.
Another reunion for the day was Blindspott. I'm not sure that such reunions should be celebrated - generic nu-metal was never anything to rave about and hearing the group again just brought back bad memories.
Part of the problem with Homegrown is that for all the good intentions of wanting to celebrate New Zealand music it also highlights some of the weaknesses, particularly the fact that several of our bands, including very popular acts (The Black Seeds) are not good at writing songs.
And if someone could explain to me what is so "homegrown" about a DJ playing some house and trance records - featuring international artists - that would be appreciated.
I don't know why the concert had to end with four of the best acts effectively competing with each other for audiences.
That, again, seems one of the ironies in trying to lump different genres together under one Kiwi umbrella.
* What did you think of Homegrown? Post your comments below.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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To booga, if your kids were to ask "Daddy, can we go to Evermore concert, please, please, please?" what would be your answer and/or reaction? This question is purely out of curiosity only, not a comment on your music taste or preferences.
Homegrown was great...each to their own heaps of styles of music. So what if you don't like dub or rock, go to another stage!
Got my review here: http://simonearle.tumblr.com/post/87511696/homegrown
Come on people, you all know that Simon is just trying to generate comments and attention. He works in Media, that's his job!
He will never review any Aotearoa Roots or Reggae-inspired music in an overly complementary fashion. Its all about old school indie rock and late-90's Wellington Rock bands.... his personal taste in music.
Great to hear you are all so passionate about NZ music.
Lets see a SOFA reunion at the next Homegrown festival!!
I am totally sick of reading Simon Sweetmans reviews. It is often said that a bad review will tell you more about the reviewer than the reviewee, and that is obviously the case here... The problem with NZ music lies not with the musicians, but all the failed musicians clinging on the the business, so they can say " I work in the msuic industry" when really they should be investment bankers or dentists. Lets see Simon produce his own music so we can all write nice reviews for him...
In the words of the late and great Frank Zappa:
"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read. "
Awesome day, how can this so called 'reviewer' call Blindspotts reunion nothing to 'rave' about? Were you even in the arena for it? It was packed and everybody was singing the chorus's of every song and having an awesome time. It was a fantastic show from the west aux crew and i think i have 1000's of supporters who were there to back me up on this, if you dont like them or their genre don't f#@king watch them!
Fur Patrol, Dimmer and HLAH were the highlights of the festival.
The rest of it was quite average. Just like the state of a lot of NZ's music journalism. When is Sweetman going to call it a day? The sooner the better. Except, like a lot of NZ bands, he'll probably reform 10 years after he finally quits and subject us to it all over again.
Simon, please....
Straight out of "Reviewing 101 for Dummies" - rip on everything mildly popular, praise the obscure shit that bugger all have heard of to come across as hip. Yaaaaaaaaaawwwwnnnnnnnnn
Homegrown this year went off again - totally rocked - awesum set up and wicked music - great that welly put on a beaut day weatherwise again and my only gripe would be that its over til next year - im one for sure that will be buying my tickets early again!!! roll on Homegrown 2010!
I feel it was an over all great day. great music, average weather... all was well. Personal highlights: Kora and Shapeshifter. Any ideas on where to view some photos from the day?
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Homegrown was AMAZING!! Quite possibly the best day of my life!! Love the New Zealand bands, it was great to be a part of it. Definitly going again next year.