Who had too much fun at the Fisher show? This guy…
Finally, Tāmaki Makaurau has a summer dance party it can be proud of. It took a former pro-surfer to show us how it's done.
Standing on the second story of a temporary tent set up in Tāmaki Makaurau’s Victoria Park, I surveyed the scenes in front of me. A grassy cricket field had been fenced off and turned into a central city dance party. It was filled with 23,000 fans, all moving, dancing and swaying as one. It looked spectacular.
That’s when a fan approached me for a chat. He was wearing shorts and a singlet, and he was wobbling as he talked. His head looked like it might float away. “Bro, I drank too many beers, I took too many drugs,” he told me as he reached his can of Speights out to touch mine. His pupils were tiny dots, and he said, “Phwoar,” a lot.
We were standing in the “VVIP” section of the venue, an exclusive area where tickets cost several hundred dollars more than the “VIP” zone and came with couches, tables, tapas, executive toilets, an all-you-can-drink bar and waiters wandering around offering chicken skewers, pulled pork tacos and arancini balls.
(Full disclosure: I’d managed to blag my way in there with a media pass.)
It had cost him a lot to be there, but this punter was carrying a large plastic bag with him. I asked him what it was for. “I’m concerned about the land, the people, the rubbish,” he said. In his spare time while partying, drinking, and taking drugs, this guy had decided to help out the event’s contracted cleaners by picking up litter.
It was a sign we were attending a different kind of dance party than the hard-and-heavy offerings usually on offer. Hosted by the former pro-surfer turned superstar dance DJ Fisher, all kinds of people had showed up: teens keeping the New Year’s party going, 20- and 30-somethings returning to work next week, and Ponsonby types wondering what the heck was going on in their neighbourhood.
The vibe was friendly, the music was upbeat, and all those fans were real fun. Many came dressed in the headliner’s signature style: a bucket hat, a Hawaiian shirt left open, and sunglasses that stayed on even when the sun went down. One had painted the star’s name over his pair. Others held signs. “Fisher come to mumma,” read one. “Wasn't going to miss you even with a baby on board,” read another being waved around in the front rows.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. We haven’t had anything of this size and scale at this time of year in the city to celebrate before. Many have tried to give Tāmaki Makaurau the summer event it so desperately needs, a huge New Year’s event we can be proud of and call our own. Anyone remember Wondergarden? (Remember: Fisher only happened because Tauranga festival Bay Dreams fell over.)
Now, though, seems like just the right time. Everyone seems ready to dance. Becky Hill warmed things up at West Auckland’s Golden Lights festival on Friday night. Next week, Kaytranada and Channel Tres are in town. Soon we’ll have events hosted by Dimension, Nia Archives, Carl Cox, Dizzee Rascal and Synthony, and then the big one: Charli XCX giving us a taste of brat summer at Laneway.
So, people arrived warmed up and ready to party. They cut shapes down the back. They jumped on friends’ shoulders up the front. They stood on rooftops on buildings neighbouring Victoria Park desperate for a free peek. And they shimmied all the way down on the skate park at the back of the venue. Even the cars seemed to be driving slower over the motorway bridge above the venue. Everyone wanted to be part of it.
It’s no wonder. Fisher and his friendly skillset sits somewhere between Fred Again and Flume, an upbeat mix of approachable dancefloor fillers and booming remixes that never got too heavy or too cheesy. Many landed with familiar choruses: Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know,’ Six Mix-A-Lot’s ‘Baby Got Back,’ the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Pump It,’ and Fisher’s own songs, like ‘Losing It’, which was set loose just as I’d stupidly decided to head to the bathroom.
Yes, there were glitter cannons, confetti and pyro. There was pounding synths and booming bass lines too. Yes, it occasionally felt completely and utterly ridiculous that a former pro-surfer with a thick Australian accent was the one who managed to make this happen.
Yet, under the light of a near-full moon, with a backdrop provided by the Sky Tower, it was impossible not to be won over. It often felt like we were at the Sahara stage in the Palm Springs desert at Coachella, not ensconced inside a venue where cricketers usually knock a red ball gently around the field.
Do my feet hurt today? Yep. Is my head a little sore. You betcha. I’ve got an afternoon of eating hash browns and watching the second season of Squid Game planned and literally nothing else. I bet I’m not in as bad shape as my new drug-addled friend. But would I do it all again? Absolutely.
I hope it all happens in exactly the same place at exactly the same time in exactly the same way next year.
For more, my full review of the show is up on RNZ.
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Sounds like an awesome night Chris. Big question, any sense of how many police were in attendance?