Razor Review: Southern Amp 2008

Midnight Youth were great, but to be fair teenybopper girls aren't their target audience

I've heard of talking horses, but rock star horses??

All the fun of the circus

My first attendance at a Southern Amp, thanks to my wonderful whanau, and for the first time a truly international flavour at this fledgling South Island music festival. What a great day out, in fact I'd go as far as to say we had a BIG Day Out... which I certainly won't be doing at the ever increasingly lacklustre Big Day Out festival in January. But thats another blog post....

Lindon Puffin warms up the crowd with a giant CD release

We arrived soon after lunchtime and quickly familiarised ourselves with the 4 stage set up. One big one inside, a dance tent to the south, the NZ tent to the west, and a small but highly enjoyable Christchurch stage to the east. Overall I have to give a bouquet right from the get go, the organisation was great, no long queues, a great vibe and easy access to each of the stages all day. Hats off, we probably got to see 2 or 3 extra bands due to the fantastic set up and staffing.

We spent the first few hours grazing on up and coming and established NZ acts. In a whirlwind walkabout we saw snippets of highly promising bands such as The Exiles, Clap Clap Riot, Midnight Youth, Audio Empire, Goodnight Nurse, the newly reformed Weta, and the Lyttelton Legend that is Lindon Puffin. I am suitably reassured that the future of NZ music is in wonderful hands, I was truly impressed by each of the above bands, particularly Midnight Youth- a real Pulp feel to their set.

Who the F&ck is Luck????

Then after a cold one it was back to the main stage to check out where Jordan Luck and Band are at these days. Any sign of an album Mr Luck??? Mr Bell??? They played a typical set, parts dreadful, parts engaging and entertaining, even unhinged, and some real diamonds interspersed. Victoria and Christchurch (In Cashel Street I Wait) still cut the mustard in a big way. Jordan Luck is truly the Keith Richards of NZ rock, a true living legend and it was great to see him live for the 400th time.

After Jordan we went to check out the end of The Valves set. These guys are truly stunning and gave one of the three biggest highlights of the day. Part Shihad, part AC/DC, the packed NZ stage just went mental. If you haven't seen these guys do it soon. At that point it was time for a quiet beer next to the dance tent that was bouncing vigorously to the sounds of Tiki Tane, who always plays a varied and surprising set. From all accounts Southern Amp was no exception.

The Dandy Warhols should have headlined

Then it was time for the first international acts, The Charlatans followed by the Dandy Warhols. Two completely different bands, one a British pop institution who dragged in us oldies with a gorgeous set of classic songs mixed with new ones from their recent release. The Dandys followed with trippy psychedelia, including all the big hits. I have to say the Dandy's were Major Highlight Number 2 for me in a very strong lineup. I must hunt out their back catalogue. And yes Rat, she was great on keyboards.

The Charlatans...Madchester memorabilia

The Living End thrashing away mightily

After refueling (again, no queues!) it was back to the NZ stage for Fur Patrol, then the main stage for a snippet of the Living End, and back to NZ Stage for a truly stunning set from my highlight of the day, Dimmer. Shayne Carter, rock god extraordinaire, and with the highly talented James Duncan (also in SJD) it would be fair to say all watching (including Paul's future wife Julia Deans) were all completely entranced by the Radiohead-like set of pure and unbridled majesty.

Mrs Christensen

Thats God playing lead guitar

At this point I was quite knackered. So any comments about Seether are probably a little bit overly-scathing, but really, to be a headline act you should not be a mediocre covers band. Lets face it, these guys are ripping off Kurt Cobain with every breath they exhale. To the point that they covered a Nirvana song, and the irony was not lost on me that they chose Rape Me...talk about turning in ones grave. They even flogged the music to Come As You Are, note for note, and changed it to their own words. They should have been run out of town- we left early.

So in summary, apart from Seether, Southern Amp was a great day out and I'm still buzzing now. I hope the growth of this festival continues next year with some international acts of note. Its a great venue, well organised and I have to say it, far more attractive to me than next years Big Day Out (apart from the Neil Young bit)

Seether truly was unbearable