Photo: Supplied / Radlab
Review: Did you know, that if you sit in the right place in the Auckland Domain and the music is loud enough it booms off the side of the museum?
I discovered this on Saturday around halfway through Groove Armada's headliner set closing off day two of the Gardens Music Festival.
Groove Armada's set started at 9pm, but I arrived at 5.30pm to soak in the rest of the day's artists. Aroha was playing when I arrived, and the crowd of dancing faithful already formed at the front of the stage.
Photo: Supplied / Radlab
She was followed by Bag Raiders, who are perhaps best known for their memerific tune 'Shooting Stars', and Robin S, who chatted with the crowd before playing her break-out hit tune 'Show Me Love'.
2manydjs played the final set, with a series of tunes sampling popular hits of the past few decades warming the crowd up for Groove Armada.
My companion and I had VIP passes but spent most of our time at the concert on the hill above the crowd. It was angled enough that you could get a great view of the stage, and also the crowd in front of it that swelled as the day went on.
Photo: Supplied / Radlab
It may be very technically autumn now, but the sun was not letting up so the shade on the hill was very much appreciated as the sun went down.
We entered the crowd a few minutes before Groove Armada came on, as 2manydjs was wrapping up. By the time we got there many of the other attendees had been dancing for hours and it was a sweaty mess of bodies.
2manydjs finished with a remix of 'Tequila' and suddenly Groove Armada was there with little fanfare and launched into a 90-minute DJ set featuring their greatest hits.
Photo: Supplied / Radlab
This is the part when I feel I should do a brief review of the crowd. For the most part, a friendly and party atmosphere. The problem was me. These reviews are done with a clear and sober head, but those around me were none of those things.
For me this somewhat threw into focus the annoying parts of concerts that you always deal with, caterpillars of people shoving their way as close to the front as possible, the group next to you having a deep and meaningful but screaming it at each other because there's music everywhere, and cans and cups littering the ground.
There was plenty of grooving to have, but the set was still building from the warm-up phase so I lasted a fair amount of time in the crowd before picking a spot where I could dance, observe and breathe a little easier.
Photo: Supplied / Radlab
The Groove Armada set built more and more across the time they were on.
I had initially felt the visuals for the set didn't match the fact the duo were the headliners for the gig, but as time went on it grew and grew, lasers shining across the domain, spotlights dancing across the crowd, and changing lights and colours surrounding the stage.
From my viewpoint, you could see the lights pulsating and matching the beat, and the crowd in front of the stage eating it up.
The DJ set could have almost been named 'how to bring back the flavours of the noughties with a modern twist'.
'Superstylin'' was sampled several times throughout, 'I See You Baby' made a few appearances and 'Get Down' made a particularly memorable feature.
It was clear the crowd loved it as energy built through the set. Whenever 'Superstylin'' was sampled, I would spot people speeding their way back to the writhing mass of grooving bodies to get into it.
Photo: Supplied / Radlab
It built right to the end, with a sample of Daft Punk's 'One More Time' playing just before the final and fullest play of 'Superstylin'', giving the crowd one final chance to shake that ass before the lights came back on, and the attendees drifted into the darkness of the domain, most of us sweaty and satisfied.
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