Homegrown 2017 Review!!

It was the morning of Saturday the 4th of March, one of the biggest days for NZ music in 2017, the day that is Jim Beam Homegrown!

The journey to Homegrown was altogether uneventful so I won’t bore you with the details. But I arrived outside TSB Arena on the Wellington waterfront and home of the Rock Stage around 12.00, swiftly met up with Tori from the Ditsy2 and headed in to get acquainted with the venue.

Now I was booked in to film for the first two bands, Decades and City Of Souls, so the beginning of the event was a little messy… but after them we were able to chill and enjoy the awesome showcase of some of NZs best music!

Tori was pretty new and nooby to NZ music so this whole event was a bit of a learning experience for her and tbh I can’t think of a better way to be exposed to NZ music. There is such a diverse array of top quality artists supported by a huge energy and awesome vibe at this festival and you can’t help but get into it.

As I mentioned before the first band up was Decades. Decades are a 4 piece band from Christchurch and opened the festival up with a bang! Riffy songs with huge choruses, setting the bar high right off the bat for the bands that were to follow.

This was the biggest stage that they have ever played and they did a pretty damn good job, there could have been a bit more interaction between the members but in general it was a really solid performance!! It is likely that they were shitting themselves on the inside but on the out it definitely looked like they were well composed and having a blast and the crowd seemed to dig it too from what I could tell through my camera’s viewfinder… speaking of which the band took the grand Homegrown opportunity to film a music video for their song “I Was With Him” which will be their 3rd single so keep an eye out for that in the near future!!

Next up was the massive sounding 6 piece monolith that is City Of Souls! I have seen these guys more than I count and I am in no way getting sick of it. They always put on a huge, emotive performance that may not be for everyone but definitely strikes a chord with me. Their live sound was huge and they were probably one of the best sounding bands on the day.

They opened up the festival last year, and you could definitely see the growth that these guys have had over the past 12 months. A solid crowd had gathered to watch them, and there was definitely more activity during their 3 radio singles Sleep, Water, and Long Gone. I think I saw more people wearing their merch than any other band on the bill too! I was filming for these guys so hopefully some of the footage gets used in future band content and we will be sure to share it out for you to see!

Now that I finished with my filming obligations it was time to chill out and enjoy the show, and next up was one the bands I was most excited to see and that was Like A Storm. These guys have been crushing it overseas and now they are finally back to play at home!! Their single “Love the way you hate me” has done massive things for them overseas and got a good amount of air time on Rock radio here but it was obvious that a bit more work was needed on their local audience. There was a decent crowd but it was not as big as I had expected being quite a big fan of theirs. The sound to me started out a bit messy and could definitely have done with a bit more tweaking in the soundcheck stage but by about 3 or 4 songs into their set it picked up.

You could tell that these guys have gigged a lot and put tonnes of time and effort into the show aspect of their performance. The stage was full of banners and had a massive backdrop, the transitions between songs were smooth, well timed and orchestrated and the addition of the Co2 blasts really added to their performance. I was excited to see them at Homegrown and am now even more excited to see them when they open for Alter Bridge at the end of the month!

It was now time to leave the Rock Stage for a brief stint to go and catch Skinny Hobos over on the LAB Stage! These two guys have grooves for days which the crowd at the LAB stage were just lapping up. It was a solid turnout of funny loving peeps really getting into the festival vibe for these guys. This was one of the 2 free stages that Homegrown had available for anyone to come down and watch, the other being the locals only stage. They said they didn’t know what to expect and seemed genuinely stoked with the turnout they had.

They sounded as good as ever and it was cool to catch em on an outdoor stage again after they opened Rock The Park in 2016. I did regret not having sunscreen as I immediately began to bake in the heat but the heat didn’t seem to put the band off and they played a really tight set. Definitely worthy of a Homegrown spot and hopefully more to come after this years performance!

Skinny Hobos wrapped up and we went on a little adventure over to the Dub/Roots stage, walking past some very interesting characters along the way as one would expect to see at a music festival. When we got there it was half-way through Sons Of Zion and the “vibe” of this stage was fresh in the air.

The feeling from this stage was a lot different to that of the Rock stage, there were a lot less goaties and black band t-shirts for one and it didn’t come across as being as much about the music and was more about the festival itself. We didn’t come to the stage for the band, more just to check out what was on offer at this end of the festival, which was notably more than what was around the Rock stage. It is definitely worth heading over that way just to experience what goes on there, it’s all good to just hang out in one place but to truly get the Homegrown experience you gotta move around at least a little bit! But in saying that… it was time to head back to the Rock stage.

Nostalgia, it’s an interesting feeling… it makes you feel young whilst reminding you how old you are and that is exactly what happened when Elemeno P took the stage. I was incredibly excited to see these guys perform and it seemed I wasn’t the only one as the TSB arena packed out for this set! The crowd was super hyped and active and it was honestly one of my favourite sets of the whole event.

I was happily surprised by how many songs of theres I remembered as they played through all the crowd favourites, there were a few I didn’t know but that number was much lower than I expected it to be. The sing-a-longs got to a deafening level and the band performed with as much intensity as they did 15 years ago, was great to see some high-energy punky NZ rock light up the Homegrown stage. Was definitely an awesome show to behold and who knows how long it will be before they perform live again.

The next band up is again one of my faves, I Am Giant, and in recent years they have had a few issues locking down a vocalist. It seems now that Aja has settled in on vocal duties after the relative trial that was last years Homegrown festival. I like the vocal style he brings to the I Am Giant sound, still clean but with a bit of rocky grit, much more emotive in my opinion than what the previous vocalist Ryan portrayed. The band is in the midst of recording their 3rd album and performed 2 new tracks in their set which slotted in pretty good amongst the rest of the set.

Now their set was anything but smooth, they had a good sized crowd and some huge sing-a-along moments but the set was plagued with a few technical issues. You could visibly see the members getting a bit annoyed with it all but they still pushed through and played their asses off. They were also filming a live video like Decades did and it will be cool to see how it comes out.

The business end of the event was about to begin with Blacklistt taking the stage. These guys haven’t released anything for a long ass time and the last time they played live was at Homegrown last year. Although this would normally ruin most bands and the response they get, the fact they drew the crowd they did is a real testament to the impact that this band has had on the NZ music scene.

The crowd did their expected chant of Blindspott which the band didn’t seem to be too keen on, they didn’t say anything but sorta just ignored it. Damien commanded the stage as he always does, he has got to be one of the best live front men I have ever seen which makes me sad that they are not more active. I feel like their crowd this year was a little lower than last years but it was still probably the 3rd biggest at the Rock stage behind headliners Shihad and Elemeno P. Their set was super smooth and the crowd definitely got into it singing along to every song with a few circle pits breaking out to let the metalheads have their fun. I feel like Homegrown could definitely do with a metal stage or a few metal bands on the lineup but I am pretty biased on that front…

The stage now completely opened up, everything was cleared off and the walkway at the back of the stage was opened up as the almighty Shihad got prepped and ready. As far as rock royalty goes these guys are New Zealand’s answer. The house filled up to capacity and the lights dimmed followed by an eruption of cheers as they took to the stage. They smashed a huge set, and the crowd was with them the whole way. Jon Toogood had 1000’s of people in the palm of his hand for over an hour and it was an incredible sight to behold. We were set side of stage and I was just looking on in aww.

The set was a showcase of their whole career, all 28 years of it, with a few from their latest album FVEY as you would expect as well as one of the first songs they ever wrote. The song, albeit much more thrashy than their recent stuff, gave the set a nice fast metal touch amongst all the rock and still fit right in, which is crazy after so long and how much things have changed throughout the years. They really proved why they are NZ’s premiere rock band and why they are the ones picked to headline these huge festivals and with a new album in the works i’m sure there will be many more headlines to come!

So my final words after the event… it was absolutely incredible! I am always blown away by how smooth things run and the calibre of the bands on the lineup. If you haven’t experienced a Homegrown yet, I thoroughly recommend it, and if you have then you know what i’m talking about! Now bring on 2018!!

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