Day 5: Tāmaki Makaurau
Nau mai
Inanahi, i whakatangi mātou ki Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa
And finally a home game. It would have been a triumphant proclamation of my own creation, my home-cooked parakuihi, but for the under-cooked hēki, the runny whites spilling out into the gutter of the egg cup. All of the knowledge garnered from four months on the road this year culminating in this moderately disappointing spread. Luckily I had some marmite toast to pick up the slack and a much more competently assembled berry smoothie.
After washing my own dishes I folded down the back seats of my 2013 Toyota Aqua to transform it from a fuel-efficient commuter into a cargo-swallowing workhorse. I only had a moderate load - the birds, my own amp, and my instrument. This was accommodated without trouble and shortly I departed for the short drive into the city. I took Allendale Road to bypass Mount Albert shops and then did a dogleg to point down Kitenui for the shortcut down to Rocket Park. At St Lukes Road I made my first critical error by opting to head for the motorway instead of the ‘slow but steady’ New North Road route. The queue at the motorway on-ramp was horrendous so I changed course heading up Great North Road and into Grey Lynn shops. My second mistake was making a lane choice error at the traffic lights there, which set me back by two lights-cycles thanks to the person parked forward of the sensor. The rest of the journey went smoothly, down Ponsonby Road and across the Hopetoun Bridge, down Vincent Street and then along Mayoral Drive, pulling up outside the town hall only a few minutes late.
Everyone had their own jobs to do. I had to get the birds hung, Jon and Liz were ferrying amps and audio equipment to the venue, and Tristan was providing two drum kits for the evening, both of which had to be transported and assembled. Auckland’s Town Hall is one of the more difficult rooms to inhabit as a rock band. One of the finest sounding rooms in the world for Orchestral music, the characteristics that cause this success prove to be troublesome to the directional sounds of guitar amps and PA speakers, and the overwhelming volume of the bass and drums. Pete was working hard at sound check to overcome these challenges and did a pretty fantastic job.
Lighting engineer Tony Black was working away while this was all happening, trying to fill every empty piece of stage with extra lights.
Lots of different lights. The strip lights you see in the front are like what you might find on the underside of a sports car. The tiny pairs of eyes up the top are for flashing a bright, blinding light on the audience to remind them who’s in charge.
I headed home after soundcheck to get myself ready and when I returned to the Town Hall a couple of hours later I did a much better job of navigating, shaving 10 minutes off the drive time. I arrived bang on 6pm just as the street parking changed over from ‘$3 per hour for up to 2 hours and $6 per hour for the remainder of your stay’, to free. The final piece of my transport plan fell into place beautifully when I found a vacant parking space right down the bottom of Greys Avenue, the perfect size for the 2.6m wheel base of a 2013 Toyota Aqua.
The optimum park would have been the loading zone right behind the pictured Toyota Aqua however it was occupied by a Mercedes Sprinter, and I was actually pretty happy with where I ended up.
I walked a roundabout route to get to the stage door as I hadn’t visited Auckland’s CBD in quite a long time. As I passed Aotea Square I instinctively checked the Queen Street entrance to the ailing Skyworld Indoor Entertainment Centre (somehow a miraculous four stars from 1036 reviews), to see if the steps were still a Friday night destination for high-school ragtags. The shopfront which used to house a thriving Burger King lay vacant and the subtly curved bleachers were barren.
The exterior of the Auckland Town Hall with its magnificent Italian Renaissance Revival architecture.
Things were happening when I returned to the rūma panoni kākahu. Warm ups were in process for guitars, vocal chords, and for the J-4000M Jiffy Steamer, its 3.8 litre stainless steel water tank being vigorously heated by the 1500 watt heating element, ready for up to 1 hour 45 minutes steaming time.
As usual Dawn Diver opened up the show and for this occasion they had the full seven-piece lineup on stage, adding even more shades to this already colourful sound.
There’s a Tuesday joined us as a second opener and they rocked hard, fresh off the back of their Boy Scout EP release and a Silver Scroll nomination.
At 9.10pm we went out onto the stage of the Great Hall and played our 80 minutes of music. Playing to an audience packed out with friends and family was a fitting end to what has been great year on the road.
Thanks to Lisa Tremewan for taking these videos.
Returning to our rūma panoni kākahu we encountered a large surprise - a celebration orchestrated by Anthony and Lani. And so we ended our year covered in confetti with a slice of cake in hand.
A special moment as we perform ‘You are a Beam of Light’.
📷 Anthony Metcalf
Thanks for reading. I look forward to returning next year.
If you would like to get in touch you may reach me at:
breakfastandtravelupdates@breakfastandtravelupdates.com
Ka kite āno!