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Gathering 2000 - singing in the rain....
The Gathering 2000; it rained. A lot.
What else was there to say, really?
In years to come, when people talk nostalgically of what
they did to celebrate the turn of the century, there will
be those among you who will quietly join in the conversation
with "Yeah, I was at the Gathering 2000", and someone
in the room will look over and say "me too", and
nod knowingly. Yes, you survived, too.
It's a few months down the track now, and I've lost my extensive
hand written notes scribbled on bits of paper I picked up
at the Gathering. What do I remember about it? Sleeping a
lot - it was a lot easier to do that than last year, when
it the temperature would hit the mid 20's by 8am every morning,
making sleep impossible. That, and my tent was nice and dry,
making it even less attractive to venture out in search of
food and coffee.
Plenty of musical highlights though, and getting wet was
never that much of a problem, only in degrees of dampness.
The site decorations this year were incredible, offering some
truly surreal experiences, even without the aid of chemical
substances. The Tribal Zone had some amazing green coloured
spikes sticking out of the ground, that looked totally sci
fi at night, with lights underneath them, dug into the ground,
in a small hollow. I played two sets this year, the first
on the opening day in the ambient zone. Unfortunately this
zone had been scheduled so it ran continuously, meaning the
band before me packed up during my set, and the following
act set up and soundchecked over the end of my set, less than
brilliant, but hey.
My second set was at the Drum N Bass Zone, which was fraught
with problems. First, no cd dj unit, which I'd asked for several
times. The useless stage manager couldn't find me one, so
I had to trek off and get one from the Production Tent myself
--I think my line "I need a DJ CD unit for the drum n
bass zone in 45 minutes, or my set will be total silence'
was quite good, if a touch dramatic. Then I got back there,
after a crazy ride on the back of one of the crew's four wheeled
motorbike contraptions - picture me holding a box with a cd
player in one hand, and clinging onto this bike as Murray
from the Gathering raced toward the DnB Zone thru the mud.
I could see it all going wrong just like that but, no, made
it in one piece. Next problem - no sound engineer to be found.
Eventually plug it all in and get it going, and start on time.
Sounds bloody good, crowd dancing, most happy. Some dreadlock
young freak jumps on stage and wants to have a go with the
turntables, while I'm playing. I explain that they're not
plugged in, and he goes, "Nah man, come on, let us have
a go", and makes for the turntables. I think 'great,
I'm going to have to punch out this stupid hairy loser', but
luckily, he's escorted off the stage by Rex Vizible, thank
god.
Then it's finished, DJ Yardboy jumps on the wheels of steel,
then Salmonella Dub do what they do so well, and then it's
the next century. Nice one The following day (Jan 1) huge
exodus, but about half the crowd stay; they are there to dance,
and rain will not stop them, which is deranged, and admirable
at the same time. Spent a lot of time in the Food Tent, good
food, coffee and music.
Funniest sighting of Gathering 2000 - in the food tent, a
hip hop dj playing, with a couple of MC's freestyling up a
storm. They're both from Wellington, one a white guy, the
other black, originally from the USA. Half way thru their
set, they open the mic up to anyone who wants to step up and
have a go. Several kids chat a bit, then this tall, bald black
woman shyly takes the mic, and lets tip with the most incredible
soulful wail, that is just astonishing, sings a few bars,
then shrinks back into the crowd. On the journey home, I catch
up with one of the rappers and ask who the singer was. Turns
out it was Skin from British band Skunk Anansie; she'd been
holidaying in Wellington and came over to Nelson for New Years.
So, made it back to Wellington, after getting away from the
Gathering site, but only just. The other performers bus, heading
south, was postponed, as the emergency crews commandeered
it to get out some of the 40 cases of hypothermia that needed
urgent attention. Not good. Arrived in Welly at midnight,
waited for a taxi with a zillion other Gathering refugees
(We really did look rather sad by that stage), and shared
a cab with The Nomad and MC Antsman, nice chaps that they
are. Crashed at a friends house, then flew back to Ak. It
had been another great adventure!
Peter McLennan, April 2000
© 2000 Peter McLennan
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