Concert Review with PHOTOS: Bay Dreams
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Photos by Logan West
Date / Venue: Tuesday January 2nd, 2017 - ASB Baypark, Mt Maunganui
There was only one way to kick off 2018 off, and if you weren’t at Bay Dreams, well sad to say you missed history being made!
As 25,000 of us happily danced under what we thought was about to be thunderstorms for the night, the sun made its appearance and so did the people of NZ.
This year, I went in with the same expectation as always, great music, amazing food, decent lines and all round vibes through out the day. What I got was so much more! Now don’t get me wrong every festival has slight flaws, you can’t please everyone and you can’t control most people once the alcohol kicks in, but Bay Dreams came pretty close to perfection this year.
With shorter lines, double the AWOP stations and triple the size of location for stages, 2018 Bay Dreams shaped up to be one of the best so far. With the two rides constantly going, pop up shops, hair braids and glitter face paint at every corner, it was easy to see why so people were having fun.
Main stage was probably the highlight of night well in my opinion for sure, as super artists such as Kehlani, MGK, DJ Snake three of the biggest to perform of the night, but it was the set of Pendulum that really started the hype of the night! With the drum and bass band dropping kiwi classics like “Slice of Heaven” and saying “I’ve always wanted to drop this track for a group of kiwis so nows my chance” was the perfect way to get the ragers going! I’ve had a few shows this year that have made me say “wow what a night!” But every.single.year of Bay Dreams my mind is blown with the amount of articulate, precise planning and structure the team put in on the day. Staff were helpful, security was tight, and everyone knew what they were meant to be doing and it seemed like they were all communicating with one another more this time round, which made it all the better for us.
I walked around the event, as I always do, people watching and checking out each stage, Viper Room and The Cube defo was the place to be if you needed that electro and drum and bass filth in your life, as both rooms were designed to keep us in and enjoy the tunes! Air con, blow up sea creatures and light activity for days!
It was the Arena that also grabbed most of our attention this year, as the stage was perfect size for big artists such as Suicide Boys, UpBeats and Homebrew were able to kick ass and do what they do best for us! As the whole arena is designed to embody a true arena, the hundreds of seats and floor area made it that much more comfortable and satisfying being inside. It was definitely the place to be if you wanted to sit down and enjoy some classic artists of the night!
Artists MGK and DJ Snake definitely stole the night with their sets. With MGK hanging upside down on the lighting and camera crew tent back that was situated in the middle, to DJ Snake literally having the ground shake, it was by far two of the craziest performances I had seen in a long time. Technical difficulties with DJ Snake did cause the crowd to get a little agitated, as the Paris DJ also came on late due to them as well. It was when the sound and lights cut off completely that the crowd was a bit ticked off, but being the kiwis we are, we all stayed around and made sure the vibes were good. Snake ended up having one of the best sets on the night with more than half the stadium watching! Female superstar Kehlani had all us ladies singing at the top of our lungs and dancing the night away with her soulful and soothing voice powering through the stadium, making all of us making us feel some type of way! MGK was the hype man of the night as the amazing hip hop star head banged and touched us all with his energy and wise words of not only his music but his genuine yarns to the crowd, the whole crowd was moved when he sang his own rendition of Linkin Parks recently fallen front man Chester Bennington who was also a good friend of MGK, “Numb” could be heard through out the entire stadium.
The only thing I really could comment on, which seemed to be most hassle of the night, was the main entrance and exit of the main stage, which annoyingly was one small cut of out of the railing that was keeping people in and out of the grass and sit down area of the stadium, it did cause a few fights and pushes and a lot of people got hurt, as they were pushed to the floor. As security wasn’t really present at that entrance, a lot of people were forced to secure themselves.
Other than that, Bay Dreams once again made history and made sure that every attendant of the festival left feeling happy with the days antics, the festival continues to grow and I’ve enjoyed watching since day one and seeing how every year, the Bay team keeps getting it right and I’m like a damn proud mum! Waiting all year for the next line up is going to hell, but well worth the wait that’s for sure!