Keep Wright
Homegrown organiser Mark Wright.
“IT’S a bit of a pain,” says Homegrown’s Kelly Wright referring to the new layout of the music festival on Wellington’s waterfront. “It was so nice and cozy before.”
The planned Wharewaka (canoe house) next to Frank Kitts lagoon means the area is out for the Homegrown festival, which has used the site for one of its five stages since 2008.
This means Mark Wright, the brainchild behind the unique New Zealand music festival, had to find another spot – Waitangi Park.
In past years, the festival has spread from TSB Bank Arena to the green space outside St John’s Bar, which was a bit of a mission for those trying to see as many bands as possible. Not only did revelers have to contend with a trek between stages, but long lines twisting outside the TSB.
Crowd control was far superior last year, but now concertgoers are going to have to plan their day in order to see all the bands they want to.
It takes Mark Wright eight minutes to walk from TSB Bank Arena (Rock Stage) to Waitangi Park (Dub and Roots Stage).
“But I walk quite fast,” he says. “If you are going to mosey, it will take you about 15 minutes.”
This might prove tricky for Shihad and Kora fans as both play 9.45pm-11pm at opposite ends of the site.
But Wright reckons it will all work out fine. It will simply take a bit of planning and a willingness to sacrifice parts of each set or simply choose to see one and not the other. Personally, this music fan doesn’t think it will be too much of a hassle. People are creatures of habit and likely to favour one stage over the others. For example Indie fans are spoilt for choice with the lineup including Liam Finn, The Mint Chicks, Pluto and Cut Off Your Hands.
All bands are handpicked by Wright, who has always loved music.
“I play trumpet, harmonica and guitar really poorly. [Organising a music festival] comes from my love of music and my inability to do it myself.”
A stand out musical moment for Wright was seeing Supergroove perform in Queenstown in 1994. “I saw them two nights in a row. Supergroove were at their peak.”
Back then, in his early 20s, Wright had no indication that he would end up running his own music festival 14 years later and invite those very cats to perform. Nor did he ever imagine that Wellington rock gods Head Like A Hole would use the same festival as a platform to announce their reunion.
“[Back then] I had done a marketing and management degree and planned to be a corporate guy.”
A few years after the momentous Supergroove gig – which he attended with his wife Kelly who helps him organise Homegrown – Wright set up Xtreme Air. Born from his love of wakeboarding, the high flying sports event in Hamilton evolved into X-Air on Wellington’s waterfront.
X-Air had a strong musical focus, which drew a diverse crowd – not necessarily interested in extreme sports and boarding.
Three years before the demise of X-Air, Wright envisaged a Kiwi music festival, and as sponsorship became harder to secure for X-Air Homegrown was born.
Now in its third year, the event continues to sell out and attract 14,500 music fans from around the country, happy to spend $90 for a ticket.
The five stages cater for a variety of popular music tastes – indie, rock, electronica, dub and roots, with a fifth hosting break dancing competitions.
“[Homegrown] is not about championing New Zealand music. I just love Kiwi music and it deserves a place... I guess that is championing New Zealand music,” Wright laughs.
Homegrown: featuring Kora, The Mint Chicks, Shihad, Liam Finn, The Datsuns, The Feelers , Salmonella Dub and more, Wellington Waterfront, 12pm-11pm, February 20.
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