Whining for highs, notes included

Another busy weekend down with House of Shem at Altitude and a farewell gig to Laughter In The Mainsail at Ward Lane (with Milk Train and The Dusk). Then in Raglan there was The Twitch with Th' Clap, Vegas Brown and Erin Cole Baker.

And when the sun was up there were the two days of wine and food fest. Two days? That's a lot of wine. And a lot of food! It sounds like a grown up and condensed version of O-Week.

While other tertiary institutions around the country have got Fat Freddy's Drop, The Blackseeds, Midnight Youth and The Mint Chicks, Hamilton has a drum 'n bass duo called State of Mind at The Outback on Tuesday, which looks ok but not as good as Soundscape on Saturday.

Who played at yours? Back in the day... Supergroove? Shihad? In recent years The Datsuns played to a mediocre sized crowd (I'm told - for an outdoor gig). The Cambridge lads are touring here again, having recently played Timaru and Gisborne. What happened to them? They used to be so huge. I'm glad they're keeping at it; the Rama Lama Glam stomp juggernaught (their words) has seen the boys play Russia, Japan, Europe and more recently Napier. Where will they go next? And why didn't they play here on this tour?  Maybe for the reason I mentioned earlier.

O-Week has traditionally seen a barrage of bands swoop into the city but this year it appears the institutions have left it to the pubs to cater to the students musical distraction and entertainment, who in turn have provided a series of theme nights with DJs. Times have changed.

Seeing Shihad thrash it out at the Wailing Bongo all those years ago was one of my first live gig experiences in this fair city, it seems a shame that the current generation won't share in that. Not to say it was better than what's on offer now, I just really enjoyed it and think they would too. It offers the question: are today's first year students moving away from the want of a live gig and preferring their music pre-produced?

It didn't get more live than the massive Symphony In The Park on Sunday night at the Hamilton Gardens, packed by thousands even when I arrived at twenty past six - and it wasn't due to start til 7pm! I suspect that many a food and wine festival goer had simply wandered from one set up to the next, chairs and all.

Many of Hamilton's finest were there, some dressed to the nines, others in shorts and t-shirt (folding their arms when the sun went down to keep warm) I even spotted a local MP schmoozing his way onto a seat just up from us - nice work!

The singing was top notch, including the late edition of Morag Aitchison who stepped in at the last minute for the laryngitis affected Morrinsvillian Anna Hawkins and performed songs not necessarily suited to her voice. The musicians looked to be enjoying themselves too, including that chick on the timps - wait, is that a little too colloquial? I'll rephrase: that chick on the timpani, she was excellent, maintaining a good sense of drama for the occasion. The only thing I'd suggest for next year is to have more room for the dancers on stage so they don't have to use a pre-recorded video for the big screen, and turn the music up when the fire works go on. They boomed well over the flutes and bassoons during their crescendo finale and must've looked quite a sight from the other side of the closed off Turtle Lake.

Bravo and well done Sarah Bettle et al, a superb Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival now draws to a close. It's a pity we have to wait a year for the next one.

For more information:

http://www.myspace.com/shihad

http://www.myspace.com/thedatsuns

http://www.hamiltongardensartsfestival.co.nz/home/

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Aaron C   #1   05:01 pm Mar 02 2010

Yeah, I agree! I remember O-Week to be huge...Shihad, HLAH, 3D's, Headless Chickens, along with comedy nights (poor performance from Adrianne Edmundson etc) and the list goes on and on. This has been a long lost tradition in Hamilton with absolutely nothing been done for a number of years. Bad show people!! Is this the WSU?

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