Rhythm and Vines 2009… or What I Did For My (continuing) Summer Vacation. R&V, as it is ever so fondly known, is a 3 day music festival set amongst rolling hills and the green vines of the Waiohika Estate vineyard.
It’s a 6.5 hour drive from Auckland to sunny Gisborne (first place in the world to see the sun every day), which Duncan and I did at pace. The beautiful mural photo is from tiny town in-the-middle-of-nowhere that we stopped at.
In Gisborne we met up with the Wellington crew – Felicity, Jo and Thomas - at our 5-star villa accommodation (complete with friendly cats and vege garden). Each day saw us skip merrily towards town, a mere 15 minute walk away from the house, and catch a bus out to the festival.
Once at the festival it was all on – a magical vine smothered playground that was ours to explore. In order of awesomeness: the Vines Stage, the Cellar Stage, the dubby Vital Sounds at the end of the Avenue and the Rhythm Stage. Oh and bus converted into a stage.
My favourite act of the festival was Major Lazer; who cranked it with Diplo, dancers and Skerrit Bwoy . Swigging cider + mad tunes = dancing out of control. Pon de Floor was THE song of the festival, I can’t count how many times it started winding in other people’s playlists. Here’s the video – kinda NSFW, similarly not safe for breakfast viewing with your parents, but I digress.
I also loved Fake Blood! His set in the forest was definitely the highlight of Day 2 for me.”I Think I Like It” should be on your iPod now. Sad bit of day 2: I was super excited for LCD Sound System, however it was billed as a “Special Disco “. Despite my high hopes it turned out to be Too Much Disco and a super traditional sound.
The purchases of the festival included a Tiger hoodie and sweater respectively for Thomas and I, some mean glasses for Flick & I. Also of note was a free poncho (negotiated from $5 to nothing, score), and nommy samosas with chutney. We paid for VIP upgrades which was pretty good – a place to chill out away from the crowds and a free bottle of champgane. Let’s just say I can’t bear the thought of drinking any ever again.
All in all it was an awesome week and I was very content as I flew back to Auckland (master move for you there kids). The penultimate question… Will I go again next year? Well, it depends on the line up. A decent international on NYE would go a long way… But the fireworks, weather and people were amazing.
PS. Here are my shoes. I bought them new, and this is what happens when you dance for 3 days straight. They survived pretty well actually – it was dry and dusty. If it had been raining, well that’d be another story.
