Well OK, our awesome All Blacks did it – but I’d like to think the stadium of 4 million may have helped just a little…
Wellington Batucada has been honoured to play our own small (and loud) part in the Rugby World Cup 2011, and we’ve had an absolute ball performing as part of Wellington’s Festival of Carnivale. The fans have been fabulous, the games have been thrilling, and the end result couldn’t have been more exciting if it’d been written as a Hollywood movie. Continue reading
The New Zealand vs Canada Fanzone-to-stadium parade – notable for the enormous fake beards (at least, I assume they were fake!) worn by some of the Canadian fans, and the fact that this was Wellington’s one and only All Blacks game during the World Cup.
Oh – and also that our semi-official photographer, Geoff Infield, deserted us halfway through the parade to take pictures of the Air Force Red Checkers aerobatics display.
Ah well – we had fun even without ya, Geoff! Continue reading
It was cold and wet for our Cuba Mall gig, which was a pity, as Cuba Street is something of a spiritual home for Wellington Batucada and we love playing there.
So cold and wet, in fact, that our normally staunch dancers ditched their flimsy costumes and performed in their normal streetwear instead.
So cold and wet, in fact, that this may well go down in the Batucada archives as one of our briefest appearances ever – not much longer than 10 minutes by all accounts. Continue reading
This was our first parade leading the fans pied-piper style from the Fanzone along the waterfront to the stadium in time for the game. It was a great one to start with, as the USA fans were, not surprisingly (because I guess they do this all the time for all kinds of sporting events) in fine voice and dressed up to the nines in their national colours.
An evening kick-off meant this parade was the only one of our Fanzone-to-stadium gigs performed in the dark, and it was also the only one where we wore our fish-head costumes, first unveiled at the 2009 Cuba Street Carnival.
Hastings Blossom Festival 2011 parade
Photo by Patrick O'Sullivan, Hawke's Bay Today
It was a funny old day, weather-wise. Rain one minute, sunshine the next, and a hailstorm about an hour before we were due to play. Should have known the Welli Weather God wasn’t going to let us down, because it had cleared up nicely by the time we gathered in Courtenay Place Park at 5pm. Continue reading
Click any image to see the full-size photo gallery.
It seems like we’ve been counting down the days for ever, but the Rugby World Cup 2011 is finally here! Wellington Batucada has been invited by the City Council to do a series of performances for the World Cup celebrations, and our first gig was in the Fanzone on opening night. Continue reading