Six60
27th February 2021
Claudelands Oval, Hamilton, New Zealand.
Review by Charlotte Lightbody. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
This was the last phenomenal show of Six60’s ‘SATURDAYS’ tour, which included six shows in Aotearoa during Jan/Feb 2021. NZ is pretty famous for it’s chilled, funky Summer gigs/festivals and this absolutely delivered for devoted Waikato fans.
Guests at the Hamilton show included Aacacia – The Drax Project competition winner has more than proven she can own a stage and remains one to watch with her groovy, summer vibes and soulful sound. The lovely Paige followed, treating the crowd to not only her melodic voice, but the most ‘fashion’ blue patterned suit (featuring lime green cuffs) I have seen, and now I need one. She played popular tracks like Hit & Run, Bloom and finished with a sing-a-long track from High School Musical which was well received. Things heated up with Mitch James who took to the stage along with the rest of his band. He carried a chill NZ sound with that assured singer-songwriter vibe, further cementing the comparisons to his friend and influence Ed Sheeran. He tore through groovy versions of tracks like Miguel’s ‘Sure Thing’ and TLC’s classic ‘Scrubs’ which really energised the crowd. Special shout out to the female bass player who absolutely smashed it in her frock!
Dr Ashley Bloomfield (DJ Bloomdaddy) was one of the standout acts of the night in the Government remix video. He reminded everyone to wash hands, sanitise and sign-in on the QR codes before glitching into a surprisingly on-point drop and literally made me want to dance to every moment of it (while social distancing). A bit of a teaser for the nationwide lockdown alerts that would see a few park guests taking their leave before the end of the nights’ performances.
Drax Project changed up the sound with their trademark saxophone infused beats and the lead vocals of Shaan Singh. Featuring an eclectic mix of soft R&B+Pop vocals with thumping bass notes of a pounding DJ set, all tied together with the aforementioned dirty dirty sax. They opened with their newest track featuring Aacacia – ‘Firefly’, and the crowd responded as expected to the massive thumping chorus of ‘All this time’. They’ve got a style with notes of American band, Passion Pit. They oozed summer vibes as the afternoon sun gave way to a cool dry Hamilton evening – topped off by a remix of Justin Timberlake’s Cry Me A River’.
Once the sun was down, a 6:60 minute countdown started – and New Zealand’s award-winning band brought their groundbreaking style of reggae, funk and pop to the adoring crowd of 25,000 at Claudelands Oval. Much like their selling out of Western Springs, they continue to prove that they are the premier NZ act.
Not to worry, as Six60 brought their own sun, which was featured on the backdrop of their screen display and stage props along with a mountain range outline. Suffice to say that their use of technology to intertwine and provide a visual to accompany their show was some of the best production values I have seen to date. The whole performance was (if one is cliché New Zealander enough to say it)… World-class. They opened the show on a smaller side stage – amidst clouds of smoke and golden lights they belted out ‘Stay together’ letting the crowd know exactly what they were in for. Then slightly comically asked the crowd very nicely to let them walk the park grounds to the main stage to continue the show. Lead Singer, Matiu Walters referenced his needs with an ode to the parting of the red sea by Moses.
After powering through all their latest singles and bangers, they played their six-track self-titled Six60 EP from 2016 in full. Including the likes of Rivers and Don’t Give It Up. Absolutely loved that ‘Vibes’ featured big lyrics on the screen for a group singalong. Matiu kept the crowd going with his friendly, kiwi-as banter between tracks – wishing everyone to stay safe and look after each other. About mid-set, we saw many in the crowd checking their phones for that telltale government buzz of a lockdown notification. But the band played on, and the evening rolled on, with more uplifting tracks like ‘Catching Feelings’ featuring Drax Project, reggae-inspired treat ‘It’s Been Raining’, and of course, the ever popular ‘Roots’. This was everything the crowd needed to wrap up their Saturday night.
What an epic lineup featuring some seriously awesome Kiwi artists – we can’t wait to see what the next Six60 show will bring because this will be hard to top!
Were you there at the Claudelands Oval in Hamilton for this huge festival style gig? Or have you seen Six60 perform live some other time? Drop us a comment below and tell us about it!
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