Day two at Camp Wainui brought a dramatic improvement in weather. After the wind and rain of Friday, Saturday opened to sunshine — enough to make camping feel pleasant rather than survivable. A leisurely morning of rehydration and breakfast gave way to a full day of music.
Morning: Castlecliff Lights and Foxtrot
The day’s music began gently at the lagoon, where Whanganui vocalist Castlecliff Lights entertained a slow-waking crowd with her sultry voice, layers of acoustic guitar and tastefully deployed melodica — a lovely, unhurried way into the day. Over breakfast, a chance encounter with a young Wellingtonian named Flo Wilson revealed she was playing a renegade slot later that morning under the name Foxtrot. These renegade shows — advertised around camp by handmade posters — are frequently among the festival’s best surprises. Flo’s set was built around vocal manipulations, loops and an old tape player to create something genuinely unusual, including an unexpected cover of the Velvet Underground’s ‘Waiting for My Man’.
Spring Break and the Lagoon Party
The centrepiece of the afternoon was the appropriately named Auckland pop duo Spring Break — James Dansey of the Sneaks and Ryan McPhun of the Ruby Suns — whose lagoon set delivered exactly the pool-party atmosphere the name promised. Hamming up their performances with skimpy (and increasingly discarded) outfits, dancing and singing with the spirit of a 1980s Prince covers act, they played songs so immediately catchy that earworms set in before the set was half over. ‘No Tango Dinero’ and ‘Do You Want Me?’ had the crowd grinning without exception.
Dead, Dance Asthmatics, Terrible Truths, Jon Lemmon
Melbourne bass-and-drums duo Dead followed with a very different kind of energy — a pulsating, distorted sonic attack on a crowd just barely awake at midday, their chops on full display. Dance Asthmatics, the Christchurch four-piece led by Stephen Nouwens (also frontman of the rather more shambolic BnP), faced a tough act to follow in the noisy room but demonstrated exactly why they’d become a crowd favourite at home, with drummer Brian Feary laying down slinky grooves and guitarist Joe Sampson doing the talking with his fingers.
Adelaide act Terrible Truths played the lagoon while Wellington musician Jon Lemmon — performing as a duo with vocalist Ben Bro — brought a smile to a forest crowd with a set of dancey, blissful numbers. Dressed entirely in white, Lemmon conducted the crowd through his songs with the authority of someone who genuinely believes in what he’s doing. His recordings with former Christchurch act Wet Wings had long impressed; this was the confirmation in person.
The Shocking and Stunning and Guerre
Melbourne’s Absolute Boys delivered a more conventional minimalist dub performance, while a couple of songs from Canadian ‘Holy Fuck’ vocalist Brian Borcherdt provided a pleasant detour before the forest stage delivered one of the day’s highlights: (ex-Christchurch) Wellington duo The Shocking and Stunning. With Sam now arguably New Zealand’s finest drummer, and enveloping keyboards from Jack Hooker, they fully lived up to their name. Sydney’s Guerre followed on the lawn with smooth, understated downbeat R’n’B — a welcome change of pace. Auckland rock group Rackets then showed how pop-accessible they’d become, their big catchy verses and punky bravado landing with an audience that seemed to sense something was on the rise.
The Phoenix Foundation
The most prominent name on the Saturday bill was The Phoenix Foundation, making their first Camp appearance since 2008 and playing to one of the festival’s largest afternoon crowds, including several of their own children in the front row. The set ran through familiar material with the ease of a band completely at home on a stage, interrupted only by some somewhat stilted between-song banter. After a wander to the ‘Karaoke Dick’ van — a rolling karaoke machine stationed near the camp kitchen — and watching Teen Wolf’s Bradley Artesque deliver his own take on Biggie’s ‘Juicy’, the evening shifted up several gears.
Forces, All Seeing Hand and Beast Wars
Melbourne dance duo Forces tore up the forest with authentic retro house so convincing it could have been Bomb the Bass — an eyes-wide, heart-racing set that sent the crowd spilling into the noisy room, where Wellington experimental trio All Seeing Hand had set up in the middle of the space. With Alphabeathead on turntables providing colour, and bombastic drumming underpinning genuinely absurd, exhilarating vocals, the crowd was completely in their hands.
Wellington metal crew Beast Wars demonstrated that Camp A Low Hum is not exclusively the preserve of skinny indie kids. Dominating the main stage, vocalist Matt Hyde didn’t resist the temptation to join the dozens of audience members who flung themselves into the crowd. It was a full-commitment performance that the festival audience responded to in kind.
Late Night: Hawnay Troof, Poor You Poor Me, Spring Break
A somewhat underwhelming set from Vice Cooler running through Hawnay Troof material in the forest was followed by a curious detour: Brooklyn duo Prince Rama leading a small crowd through their own home-filmed yoga exercise video in the noisy room. Auckland group Poor You Poor Me — who had advertised themselves around camp as containing ‘the least interesting members from’ a variety of New Zealand bands, a claim thoroughly undermined by their actual performance — brought violin and gang vocals to the late-night lagoon, keeping the crowd warm with a genuine party atmosphere. The night ended back in the noisy room with a repeat performance from Spring Break, this time crammed into a sweat-drenched space, clothing flying and the crowd eventually hitting the stage. What a day.
