Hot! Hothothothothot!
The last Newtown Fair to be organised by Anna Kemble Welch and Martin Hanley was also the biggest and best – it was huuuge. The festival stretched for miles in every direction (only a slight exaggeration) and the variety of food, stalls of every kind, buskers and roving street artists, a couple of hundred bands and other performers on 16 different stages doing their thing, and 80,000 super-happy festival-goers was quite a sight to behold.
This was also, I think, our biggest ever Newtown as a band – with well over 80 drummers and dancers taking part. Epic! It was also very hot. Super-hot in fact. As were we.
The dancers’ costumes looked fantastic – and entirely mad, and completely non-matching, and also at the same time forming an entirely unexpectedly coherent collection – and the drummers looked super-spiffy in our lovely costumes inspired by the Escadaria Selarón Mosaic Steps in Rio de Janeiro.
Our parade route was a little different to previous years, as we gathered in front of the Tangata Whenua Stage and set off from there, drumming and dancing our way down pretty much the entirety of Riddiford Street. In line with previous Newtown Fairs, our best beloved superfan Ed “Bananaman” was in attendance, replete with teeny tiny blue green and gold Brasil costume, and Christian was playing the dreaded cuíca (Brazilian friction drum, AKA the squeaker). All was right with the world.
We began the show with a static rendition of Sambanui samba reggae, and we could tell right away that this was going to be a Good One. Sometimes you just know, right from the start – it’s the excitement of the occasion, the vibe, the way the drums all come together with an energy that lifts us all up as one and shoots us into the stratosphere. It’s a brilliant feeling.
Starting the show with Sambanui samba reggae
Video by Epu Tararo
Our second song was Rocinha samba, during which we began our slow progress en masse down the street. Very very slowly, while playing and dancing really quite fast. At Newtown it always takes a while to make our way through the huge crowds on either side, all smiling and bobbing around in time to the drumming. What many of us don’t realise (because they’re behind us!) is that there’s always an enormous number of people following along behind, dancing and jigging about and becoming part of the parade themselves – with everyone having the best time ever.
We love Newtown for this reason – because it’s so full-on, there are so many people, and the vibe is just fantastic. It’s such a beautiful, joyful, community-based event. It’s always a completely mind-blowing experience to play there.
Our next piece was Olodum samba reggae, which has been getting better and better over the last year or so. It has so much complexity and variety, and our director Tim’s become a bit of a master at teasing out the full range of patterns within the composition. There’s a moment when the surdos change up into this full-on funky rhythm, and many of the other instruments also follow suit – it’s wonderful. I turned to Amanda, playing chocalho next to me and yelled “I’ve got goosebumps!”. I’m pretty sure she couldn’t hear me. It was amazing. I reckon it’s the best we’ve ever played it.
Eventually we arrived at the Community Stage at the crossroads with Constable Street, and spent a fun ten minutes or so jamming with Cumbia Blazera who were performing on-stage. It’s always a bit hit-and-miss with our stage band jams at Newtown, because we don’t get any kind of chance to rehearse anything together beforehand, and we just turn up at a random moment in their show, and then we all have to try and play together (which is hard, as we’re so loud it’s difficult to hear much else).
Much hand-waving and 360° directing ensued from both Tim in the midst of us, and Jeanette who jumped up on the side of the stage so we could see her signalling the timekeeping. Some bits were better than other bits, for sure, but we all had a brilliant time, which in the end is what it’s all about.
After we finished our little jam session we continued on up Riddiford Street, further than we’ve paraded before, right to the South Stage at the far end of the street, where we concluded our set with another blast of Rocinha samba. Of course.
What a brilliant, brilliant gig.
We’d like to thank Anna and Martin and the rest of their amazing team for all their incredibly hard work over the past 28 years, and acknowledge their ongoing support of us as a band, and for giving us the privileged role of “biggest parade of the day” at Newtown Fair. We are very grateful and wouldn’t miss it for the world. Wellington really does do THE BEST street festivals! About the Newtown Festival.
Photo gallery
Photos by Alison Green, Barin Das, Chris McKeown, Epu Tararo, Gerry Keating, Gina King, Kelly Etuata, Lisa Leask, Marie Degenhard, Megan Glass, Ninad Ingulkar, Satya Priyomarsono and Vicky Lin. Click on any thumbnail to see the larger version:
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