Stampede Festival
4th March 2017
Pukekohe Park, Pukekohe, New Zealand
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.
Today marked the beginning of what many New Zealand country and western fans are hoping will be a regular festival in this genre. Touted as being designed to fill a gap in the market of an international magnitude, The Stampede Festival was offering several packages, some which included overnight campervan parking, which was encouraging for people travelling from outside of the greater Auckland region.
Upon arriving at the venue there are several different options for parking depending on the ticket level that you have purchased. Standard general parking unfortunately means that you have a bit of a walk from your car to the actual event, but on a stunning day like today the walk is quite pleasant. And if you would rather travel the distance in a bit of country style there was a free horse and carriage ride featuring a pair of beautiful Clydesdales, the sound of their hooves on the concrete definitely adding to the country vibe of the day. While VIP patrons had access to premium parking next to the event itself – disabled parking was near the same area as general – event organisers may want to revisit the logic of this decision before next year’s event.
As you enter the park (under a giant pair of bull horns and the Stampede Festival logo) the first thing to catch your eye is the great layout of the venue, done in wagon circle style it’s nice and easy to immediately see where everything is. Straight ahead the stage (which has been shipped up especially from Wellington) cuts an impressive sight and there is large screen to the right projecting close up shots of the artists for the people sitting at the back. All the usual logical things required at festivals have been thought of. There is a [free] water and sunscreen station and several banks of port-a-loos (separated out as ‘Cowgirls’ and “Cowboys’) and can we have a round of applause for the two attendants who tirelessly worked all day to keep them in great condition! Food wise, there was the standard Hot Dogs and Chips etc., however there was also more interesting fare on offer such as Lone Star selling ribs and buffalo wings, the One Love kitchen which offered an excellent range of vegan and vegetarian food and a Real Fruit Ice-cream team for those that needed a sweet fix later in the day. A Merchandise tent covered all the needs for the fans of the artists and a stall selling a vast range of cowboy hats and boots meant that you could transform yourself into a real country star if so desired. A mechanical bull set up towards the back of the venue provided hours of entertainment for those trying to beat their best score, however there were no rides or amusements for the kids. While only under 5’s were allowed in for free with an adult ticket there were quite a few young children in attendance, so a little thought in regards to some entertainment for next year might be wise. The centre of the venue was covered in grass and dotted with hay bales (a nice touch) which people could use as seating if they had forgone bringing their own chair. And on the furthest left hand side was the VIP tent decorated internally with some great country memorabilia.
Now onto the most important aspect of the day; the music!
Kicking off the day in style was New Zealand’s own Dennis March who began his country music career in 1984. With a lovely crooning voice he was a nice easy way to start the day.
Cooper’s Run has had phenomenal success both here and overseas. The main force behind the band is the duo of Ashley Cooper on lead vocals and Michael Tipping. They opened with a Shania Twain cover of ‘Black Eyes, Blue Tears’ which instantly had the crowd humming along. Ashley dressed in a gorgeous blush leather mini and knee high black boots certainly knew how to sing. Their set comprised of a nice mix of originals and covers and included a medley of their favourite country songs. Finishing with a Keith Urban cover (Somebody like You) the audience certainly seemed to appreciate their addition to the line-up today.
In between the bands country music videos were being played on the big screen, which was a great idea and kept that music vibe running. However the selection of the videos was rather small, and by the end of the day you were certainly tired of hearing Alan Jackson’s song ‘Good Time’.
Next up were The Legends, who are basically a group made up of well-known NZ country music stars. The line-up of Brendan Dugan, Jodi Vaughn, Gray Bartlett and Eddie Lowe may be getting on in years but they owned that stage like it was theirs. The Legends entertained the crowd for well over an hour with a handpicked selection of covers, including a stirring version of the infamous Johnny Cash song ‘Ring of Fire’. Gray Bartlett’s talent on the guitar was also given several chances to shine with the stand out being his haunting cover of Sting’s ‘Field of Gold’. Not to be outdone Eddie Lowe’s falsettos on the Ray Charles song “I can’t stop loving you’ were just delightful.
Following close behind (the intervals between the bands were kept reasonable short – just a pity about those repetitive music videos) The Warratahs with Barry Saunders at the helm and the talents of Nik Brown on violin were certainly early crowd favourites receiving a huge round of cheers as they entered the stage. Opening with ‘Big Sky’ the four piece made their way through a nostalgic set often stopping to dedicate a song or regale the crowd with an anecdote. The Warratahs currently have a new album out by the name of ‘Runaway Days’; Saunders dedicating the title track to the late, great Dave McArtney from fellow kiwi legends band Hello Sailor. With Rikki Morris on the sound desk, The Warratahs sounded fantastic on stage and were an excellent addition. They closed on the first song they ever played together on a rainy Tuesday night in The Cricketers Arms in Wellington – a cover of the Foghat song ‘Drivin Wheel’
By now the venue space had filled up nicely with an estimated 5000-6000 fans ready for the two international acts of the night.
Jody Direen who is touted as the NZ queen of country had the auspicious position of being the main support act. She strode out onto the stage in floral hotpants, a long sleeved top and her blonde hair slicked back at the sides. This young lady has recorded in Nashville and certainly seems to have the talent to go far; unfortunately today she was a little pitchy and she struggled with some of the harmonising. Her set (like many of the others playing today) consisted of originals and a few well known covers including The Eagles ‘Heartache Tonight’ and AC/DC’s ‘You Shook me All Night Long’.
The crowd by this point were getting excited for the first main act of the night and a large group of people had gathered in front of the stage. And yes, before you ask, Alan Jacksons video for ‘Good Time’ was playing on the big screen…again *grumble*
LeeAnn Rimes was an absolute vision when she appeared on stage. Dressed in a figure hugging two tone denim dress, and simple make-up and hair she has a natural beauty about her that endears her to her fans. Her first song ‘Nothing Better to Do’ immediately had the crowd dancing in the isles and while there was some very minor mic issues through the opening bars of the song it was very quickly rectified. Rimes currently has a new album out by the name of ‘Remnants’ and she showcased several songs from it including the title track and a lovely song by the name of ‘Loveline’ which she dedicated to her two step sons who are 9 and 13yrs old respectively. Rimes is very supportive of racial equality and of the LGBT community and spoke about this briefly during her set. She also likes to be comfortable it seems as within a few songs she grinned at the audience and apologised as she informed us that the shoes were “coming off!!”.
Rimes has amazing stage presence , not surprising considering she recorded her first song at the tender age of 13, which means she has now been performing for over 20 years! The biggest tracks of the night came at the end of her set with ‘Life Goes On’ encouraging a huge sing along by the audience as well as that infamous Coyote Ugly song ‘Can’t Stop The Moonlight’ which was freshened up in the closing sequence by a medley of old school and modern radio hits. After demands for an encore, Rimes and her very talented backing band came back out to rapturous applause and played her very first hit single ‘Blue’ and yes her vocal abilities were enviable as she easily hit all of those amazing notes.
Darkness was just starting to fall as the masses in front of the stage continued to grow in size and the roadies hurriedly made sure everything was in place for the headliner of the night Scotty McCreery. And just in case you were wondering about the Alan Jackson video…let’s just say we all know the opening lines to that song pretty well now *sigh*
If the name sounds familiar to you it’s because McCreery famously took out Season Ten of American Idol at the tender age of just 17. Releasing his debut album shortly afterwards in 2011 he was the youngest artist and first country musician to have his opening album debut at the top of the [all-genre] Billboards Top 200 Album chart. Since then McCreery has released 3 albums as well as a book and has millions of followers. And it is easy to see why as he burst onto stage (much to the delight of many of the ladies in the front row) and started belting out his hit song ‘Whiplash’. At only 23 he has a wonderful timbre to his voice and a real energy on stage that was highly infectious. McCreery was supported by an impressive 5 piece band (including a fantastic banjo player!) and notable stage lighting which overall made for a very professional and big stadium feel to the set. A mix of originals and covers including a very stylish and well sung cover of The Eagles ‘Take it Easy’ made up McCreerys set and there was certainly no doubt that he finished the day in style.
A few small improvements to be made, but for its first outing Stampede Festival delivered the goods with 2018 looking very promising indeed!
Were you there at Pukekohe Park to witness this rootin’ tootin’ hootenanny? Or have you seen any of the acts from Stampede live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
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