18th January Auckland NZ
The BDO tour kicks off in the Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland. All the dates take place in built environments, either sporting venues or agricultural showgrounds. This makes it a lot easier to get out of the fierce sunlight and to avoid the occasional torrential downpour.
I’m performing on the Essential Stage on a bill that includes Kate Nash, Enter Shikari and The Nightwatchman aka Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. In Auckland, the Essential Stage is side by side with the Green Stage so as soon as the Hilltop Hoods stop playing on the Green, I’m thrown straight into my 45 minute set on the Essential.
Without a soundcheck and using a new type of amplifier, I’m immediately encountering problems with feedback and volume levels. Grant Showbiz, my soundman and producer has been in NZ since Jan 1st and so I remind him that he’s not on holiday now and he sorts the sound out but meanwhile on the Green stage, the next band decide to so a soundcheck during my set so my performance is somewhat embattled.
I console myself by wandering down to the Lilyworld stage to watch hot Japanese ska band the Cool Wise Men. Lilyworld is a corner of BDO where anything can happen. Gaz Mayall, who is DJing down there, introduces the Men by letting off a fire extinguisher into the audience and I end up on stage singing and dancing with them, before slipping away to watch Rage Against the Machine play a blistering set to a frenzied Kiwi crowd.
