Kim Dotcom has thrown the biggest party Auckland has seen on a Wednesday night for a long time! Aptly named the ‘Party Party’, this was obviously a pitch for his new project, the Internet Party, but was the crowd there for the party or the party??
I am not into political writing, I don’t know enough about it and/or don’t care too much for politicians so I will leave the finer political points for the pros and stick to the music and event itself.
When I first saw this show advertised I instantly thought the night was aimed at 18 – 25 year olds (purely based on the entertainment for the evening)….but the actual crowd told a different story, I arrived to find an crowd of moslty over 30’s and some upwards of 70. I was not expecting this considering the Electro Dance Music (EDM) and Hip-hop that was on offer, maybe I was a little bit short sighted in this early judgement.
The event was very politically orientated, with a lot of interviews, photos, posters and signage plastered over the walls. All of which the majority of the crowd was there to see, not me though. I was there for one thing and one thing only, the music.
Sons of Zion, State of Mind, Optimus Gryme, Kamandi, PNC, and L.A.B (Laughton and Brad Kora) were all on offer for the night and we kicked off with the unknown Kamandi playing his set of epic bass electro to a non existent crowd. He has a grimey deep dark sound sound mixed with electro funk. Some solid drops a great way to ease us into the evening, watch out for this guy.
A smooth stage transition followed to enter Optimus Gryme exactly as we know and love him, straight hard heavy hitting grime!! Deep, dark beat heavy tracks with some dubstep thrown in the mix. A standard set from Optimus Grime who again sadly played to an empty floor.
The crowds then filtered in for PNC who appeared with a bang ripping straight into all his classics. Rap was refreshing for the ears after two sets of heavy EDM. The crowds reacted well by instantly filling up the dance floor and bringing the party to life. PNC’s high energy set included covers of Kendrick Lamar and an epic freestyle to Iggy Azalea’s Fancy.
Brad and Laughton Kora now known as L.A.B then took the stage and absolutely exploded into heavy Dub-Drum and Bass-House with a hint of that classic Kora sound still attached. This was my personal favourite set, is was not at all what I expected but Brad on the drums and Laughton in the mixing board worked a treat and absolutely bought the house down!
Kim appeared and said his bit, a short and sweet positive message for young Kiwis to vote and make New Zealand young, fresh and cool, the room then darkened and L.A.B continue with fresh unheard tracks to get the night blood flowing with Brad hammering drums and Laughton drinking straight from a bottle of Jamiesons. It just worked. It rocked.
Sons of Zion followed to bring everyone back to earth. A Kiwi fav these days, Sons of Zion performed their reggae beats as the older crowd slowly headed off to bed and the younger stocked up on drinks for the upcoming performance by State of Mind….This is when I left, but I have no doubt that State of Mind would of completely owned the stage.
Overall a great night, with amazing music. The entire event was well organised and seemed to just fly by. I was happy to see Kim Dotcom didnt rave on about the political aspect, he just wanted to party himself! The majority of the crowd possibly weren’t familiar with some of the music and seemed to be there in support of the political party but sure knew how to party.
Real Life Auckland 