Reviewed by James Murray
I have waded through the mud, sat on blazing hot concrete, chowed down on 10% pork sausage, gagged in steaming portaloos, drunk expensive warm beer, queued for what seemed like decades and been disappointed by the coke-fuelled non-performance of one of my favourite bands (that’s you Primal Scream).
When it comes to festivals - the sublime is too often supplanted by the gross and the mundane. This is a thought that has clearly occurred to Blink, legendary New Zealand music promoter and curator of the trilogy of intimate festivals known as Camp A Low Hum.
Drawing from the notes in the souvenir programme (lovingly written by a man who clearly cares about his audience), Camp A Low Hum originated after a series of touring gigs between 2004-06 promoting Blink’s self-published music magazine A Low Hum.
“I met so many friends and awesome people during the tours so I was really keen to celebrate and throw an incredible party at the end of it all,” writes Blink, who originally intended Camp A Low Hum to be an old-school summer camp “like I’d seen in so many of my favourite movies”.
He soon realised that Camp had the potential to take on a larger, festival-style format but was keen not to simply replicate the tired and tested.
“Being a gigantic hater of festivals myself, it was my firm belief that if I could provide an environment even I could enjoy, then everybody else would as well.”
Now in its third and final year Camp A Low Hum has achieved Blink’s goal and more - but it was not without effort.
Blink told the crowd he only had one and a half hours sleep in the four days leading up to Camp 09 and spent most of his time at the festival driving round on a golf buggy ensuring everyone was happy. He even gave every camper his mobile number in case they had any problems, or wanted a band they missed to play again.
When I spoke to him at the end of the festival he said he still had another four days of clear-up to go. Dedication indeed for a man who clearly sees festival goers as an extended group of friends.
Blink has been very careful to keep Camp A Low Hum under wraps - he told me he had been loathe to publicise the event lest it become overrun by press coverage and festival-goers more likely to mess up his portaloos.
“If they knew what went on here,” he said, wary that his little piece of Nirvana could be shut down by killjoys.
However, as this is the last of the Camp A Low Hum trilogy (it will take on a different guise in 2010), he has relaxed this policy a little - even letting in a camera crew from 3 News on the final day.
But a festival is nothing without a line-up of quality bands, no matter how clean the toilets are. Petworth Classical Music Festival in leafy Sussex, UK has wonderful amenities but not a lot to offer the average punk-kid from Wellington.
As a recent émigré I have to confess to not knowing many of the bands here - but that excites more than daunts. With no expectations not a lot could go wrong.
Very few bands disappointed and many are now new favourites - here are a few highlights:
Recently formed Family Cactus kicked the event off with a whimsical indie set that charmed the crowd from the off. They are made up of past/present members of a menagerie of Kiwi acts including the Brunettes and The Cosbys.
They played another two or three times throughout the festival and their popularity here may point to them becoming a lot more well known very soon.
Solo artist Bachelorette played a lilting, hypnotic set full of recorded guitar loops and rhythms slapped out on the body of her instrument.
Auckland-based DHDFD's made up for their poor use of the apostrophe with a manic, blistering set in the noisy room (a tightly packed, aggressively hot cabin). Lead singer Scot Brown surfed the baying crowd, head butting the ceiling and causing general chaos with an ironing board.
Day one’s highlight was definitely Wellington’s So So Modern. In matching white hoodies they played their banks of synths, keyboards and guitars hard - a mish-mash of unexpected rhythms and space-funk madness.
Melbourne’s East Brunswick All Girls' Choir were my favourite of the Melbourne acts invited here. Blink intended Camp 09 to be meeting of all that is good about Australian and New Zealand music, saying in the programme that it is a shame these bands rarely tour eachother's countries.
They were all clearly drunk as skunks, Melbournite Bella told me that lead-singer Marcus is known as “Melbourne’s most debauched individual”. Despite being hammered he won hearts and minds with his bluesy guitar, gutter-howl voice and filthy humour.
Nintendo KiWii brought in the late night with a set of punked up Aussie/Kiwi covers everything from Kylie‘s “I Can’t Get You Out Of Head” to John Farnham’s “You’re The Voice” - and pumped some energy into the sun-weary crowd.
Early on day three Auckland’s Teacups sung songs of Harry Potter and the danger posed to humanity by ducks amid the trees near the Nice Stage. The band are made up of Chelsea (vocals), Liz (guitar) and Talita (double bass) - their merchandise sold out in seconds after they revealed they had no way of getting home due to parking their car in a ditch.
Sweetness incarnate, Little Pictures, dressed as a teddy bear and a marionette, got people dancing and played a great electronica cover of Weezer’s Buddy Holly.
The Sneaks were a slice of punk heaven playing a blistering set in the Noisy Room before diving into the cooling lagoon.
Nearing the end of the final day self-proclaimed “world’s best human beatbox”, Show Is The Rainbow- rapped like a maniac as he moshed with the crowd. His songs are too rude to repeat on this website but fellow Nebraskan Bright Eyes should look out - The Show Is The Rainbow is out to get you!
***
But Camp A Low Hum gave more than great bands. It was regularly touted as being one of the best music festivals in the world and the bands were just one facet of this.
If Woodstock was a triumph of spontaneity - Camp A Low Hum showed what care, dedication and organisation can achieve. Blink used highly complex flow charts to ensure that it was possible to see every band playing at Camp and many bands played twice - there was none of the anxiety so typical of festivals like Big Day Out where you are often forced to choose between two favourite acts.
Blinks knows all too well that too much choice does not make humans happy. There was only one place to eat - but the food was great. Less is always more.
A great festival should not just entertain but leave you a little less cynical and a bit more optimistic.
Camp A Low Hum does just that.
The surprise act summed this up. As soon as Blink announced that the planned talent show had had a disappointing number of entries and just one band had signed up - some people looked a little disappointed.
But the members of this plucky band were - EJ Barnes, Elroy Finn, Liam Finn and none other than Neil Finn himself.
They played a set of Liam Finn’s better known songs, Gather To The Chapel turned the Wainuiomata Sky into a Cathedral as all sang along in unison. Covers of Split Enz and Crowded House classics followed and a warm buzz of happiness floated across the crowd.
For this English immigrant, standing in the humming bush and singing along with my Kiwi girlfriend was my perfect New Zealand moment.
Finn senior ended the set by saying:
“Thank you - I am full of hope.”
And so was I.