Future City Festival, Day 2

R E V I E W
Future City Festival, Day 2
by Ian Duggan
 
The Future City Festival is over and done for its first year. We saw many excellent bands, and a good number of punters through the doors. From a personal perspective, I unfortunately didn’t get to see as much on Day 2 as on Day 1, but there were definitely some major highlights. And as always, being a subjective review, my highlights may be different from your highlights.
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The day had a quiet start with WendyD at Creative Waikato, easing us back into the festival gently after the night before. While I was a member of the regular migration between Creative Waikato and Nivara Lounge on Day 1, I was largely confined to Creative Waikato on Day 2, so I unfortunately missed a number of great bands there. Nevertheless, Elider, fronted by ex-Inchworm guitarist Justin Harris, set the early standard for the day at Creative Waikato just before 4pm. The set started with the popular 'It’s Times Like This' and the re-imagined late-Inchworm song ‘Lift’. Adding some surrealism to the set was that the drummer used, Ben Cole of the Joint Chiefs, has the physical features, mannerisms and humour of Inchworm drummer Rob Talsma. Combined with that, having a Scott N instead of a Scott B on bass made this gig appear a little like watching an Inchworm from some sort of alternate universe. Nevertheless, Elider has different songs and a different sound, and provided us with an enjoyable, intelligent set, which even included a pop quiz about ‘rotifers’ (top marks went to Hollow Grinder Dean Ballinger). The crowd favourite was 'Waterdog', while the final song ‘Your Silent Face’ was epic. Overall, one of the best sets of the festival.
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Next up at Creative Waikato was the Joint Chiefs, who started with their perfect pop piece, ‘Run Down’. In fact, as I hadn’t made it across to Nivara Lounge between bands I got to hear them play the same excellent song in sound check also, so I felt doubly blessed. This was another really clever set, based wholly around Heidi’s beautiful keyboards, Ben’s skilled drumming, and the pairs infectious demeanour. Each song was a different adventure from the last, and the crowd appeared to love it. As if we weren’t lucky enough having one Datsun gracing our presence in Ben, we had another surprise with Phil Datsun standing in on guitar for Rumpus Room soon after. It was really something to experience.

Another highlight at Creative Waikato was a display of Ngamihi Pawa’s amazing photos. She was all over the place at the festival, and I can’t wait to see what shots she has ended up with! Many, including myself, were able to pick up some pretty sweet merchandise while we were there also. 

Being a long day, many were searching for much needed sustenance in the evening, and after a long couple of days I was getting weary. Hardcore bands Contenders and Old Loaves dominated Creative Waikato into the late evening, and I learnt that member’s of bands from this genre manage to lose their otherwise indestructible arm bands at a far greater rate than the general population. Finishing off the night I finally made it to Nivara Lounge, getting to hear Spawts excellent song ‘Big Fresh’, but by this time I was utterly spent, feeling like I had experienced an excellent festival and then some. ​​​

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