By Chris Whitworth
It seemed strange to hear Splore had sold out on the weekend, given Big Day Out called it quits in New Zealand just a month earlier and blamed poor ticket sales and rising costs.
Musically, Big Day Out offered a greater range and higher calibre of artists, and at $160 was almost half the price of a Splore ticket.
Yet this year people flocked to the three-day event held in Tapapakanga Regional Park.
Punters came for the music, but also the sun, sand, food stalls and upbeat vibe of seeing people of all ages enjoying themselves in one place.
One couldn’t help but feel pangs of envy as young ‘Splore Kids’ – as we called them – ran around the campsite in uninhibited bliss, or smile at an elderly couple, in clothing harking back to the '60s, still jiving after all these years.
View photos from Splore 2012.
Splore has always sold itself on the culture of the festival but, sadly, I would argue this year it hit a tipping point.
Where Auckland’s 2012 Big Day Out suffered from too few people, Splore was over capacity.
Nowhere was this more apparent than in the festival’s waste management, and within 24 hours of the event starting, horror stories began to emerge about the state of the portaloos.
Simply put, the sewage truck couldn’t clean the sheer volume of human waste fast enough. This situation was made all the worse by heavy rain on the Friday which resulted in the truck becoming stuck in mud the next morning, causing further delays to its campsite duties.
(Photo: Ren Kirk)
The capacity crowd was felt in other areas as well, with longer lines at the food stalls, less space on the beach and more rubbish dropped and dumped around the campsite.
To say the larger crowd killed the festival would be an overstatement, but it did detract from the Splore experience - though not enough to leave punters soured from the weekend.
Among the highlights of the festival was headliner Erykah Badu, who mesmerised the audience on the first night, ending her set just as the heavens opened up and drenched the campgrounds. Badu was a perfect fit for Splore and in my opinion a much better headliner than the previous year’s Lupe Fiasco.
Another standout performance came from the Cuban Brothers. Dressed in beige suits and talking in faux-Cuban accents – somewhere between Scarface and Borat – the trio delighted the crowd. They roller skated, rapped, danced and told dirty jokes. Whatever the group lacked in musical credentials they made up for in sheer entertainment value and were a great addition to the Saturday night line-up.
Erykah Badu at Splore 2012 (Photo: Ren Kirk)
A local band worthy of special mention was the infectious crooning and ice-cream-parlour-pop of Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes. The swing-era stylings of the Auckland nine-piece were a refreshing change-up from the weekend’s reggae and funk leanings. And, similar to the Cuban Brothers, the crowd was captivated and charmed by the group – but likely more impressed by their musical abilities.
Another special mention should go the festival’s self-appointed shaman. Frequenting the Firemen’s Social Club, the unnamed man entertained afternoon crowds each day with the “Shaman Games” in a scene straight out of The Mighty Boosh. In reality it was just a man in silver parachute pants and a turban hyping up the crowd with games of limbo and egg tossing, but when you call yourself a shaman you get a certain respect.
(Photo: Ren Kirk)
In many ways the shaman is what Splore is all about: fun and a little bit of wackiness.
As the festival continues to grow and gain in popularity I hope it can maintain its unconventional “Splore-ness”.
Big, boozy music festivals are a dime-a-dozen in New Zealand and it’d be a shame to see this one lose its heart.
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