Beccie B here George whānau! I had a pretty wild day yesterday opening the Tāmaki Makaurau Fisher show. If you know me I’m a bit of a house music and DJ geek, so I thought I’d yap about some highlights (amidst the hangover I am facing rn lol)
If you went to the show yesterday - you were a part of Aotearoa Electronic Music History. You danced at the single biggest electronic headline show that’s ever been in NZ. An estimated 23,000 ravers hit Victoria Park to see one man in action.
Are youuuuuuuuuu kidding!!!
Let's kick it off from the beginning. 4pm rolled through and I thought I’d be a lot more nervous but the sun was shining and the house music was blasting on truely the biggest RIG I’ve ever played! Any show where I can play all of my favourite house records is dope, but this one felt a bit more special. For our DJ nerds out there, the kit was mean. We had the pleasure of hooning four CDJ3000s and a V10 mixer, niaaaaace.
From there we were treated to selectors after selectors. Our Aussie pal, absolute HOOT and Need2Freak honcho Little Fritter took the stage with a more daytime toned back set. If you’ve seen this man's club sets you know that he's a 140 norty, four to tha floor belters sorta guy, so to see him play out some classics and even my fave record of 2024 (House Flava - Cromby) was pretty cool.
Parisian Queen Chloé Calliet graced us with what was my favourite selections of the eve!
Having just wrapped up her Australian tour and doing mecca shows like Lost Sundays and Lost Paradise it is safe to say my expectations were high.
Playing every house DJs tune of the summer, Newtone’s - 6 Million Ways To Die and an unreal edit of Rhythm of the Night ticked all the boxes. SAY LESS! Come back soon Chloé!
From there we were treated to the sounds of Ayybo and LF System. Ayybo packing punches that deserved a shazam or eight, cheers mate! Topped with his smooth mixing, proving why he is about to hit the States and Mexico on a seventeen date tour.
And LF? Class as per, high energy, big tuuuuna’s. I’ve seen these Scottish fella’s a couple times now and boy do they put on a show. There’s few things I love less than a cheeky kanikani to big, phat, LF System house records in the sunshine!
LF dropped another fave record of mine called Foxy Dave by the Trip (for all the house lovers and groovers out there you should absolutely check this record out).
And just like that - it was time.
Straight off the bat, we need to compliment the Production and site team. I’m really lucky to be a bit more involved than the average punter - I know the crew’s that work on these sites, they’re some of my favourite people in the world. And I see first hand the hours and days leading up to an event like this. You thought you were dusty after ya New Years run? Imagine not having a day off for the last three weeks and still pulling out that incredible show. So to our sound crews, our site crews, our backline, our production, visuals & lighting - let alone everyone else. Thank you! This show was world class. One of the most well produced shows Aotearoa’s ever seen, so well bloody done team.
Now for the fun bit. Fish, mate, in a world of quad drops and only playing 32 bars - I cannot tell you how REFRESHING it is to hear more than one drop of a tune. And boy did it create some magical moments.
As the sun set over Tāmaki, our gorgeous Sky Tower placed in background, Fisher pumping a wild Cry For You tech-house edit - Victoria Park came to life. We’re talking confetti, we’re talking sick visuals, we’re talking flames, we’re talking MORE confetti. I looked at Brook Gibson dead in the eye and said
Shit, I reckon we’re a bit on here!
And that we were, Fish intertwining his classics with new age pop edits (Shout out to Lola Young @fish any IDs bro pls). He had the crowd in the palm of his Aussie paw, despite a cheeky one minute downpour out of absolutely nowhere. Alas, it just kinda added to the vibe.
It’s A Killa was probably my favourite moment of the set. With Keith Haring inspired visuals, neon green LED’s and 23000 people just having a mean as two-step.
A true DJ, he adhered to the gold rule: one for him, one for the crowd, one for the OG fans. Big Fish classics, records to educate the masses swifty mixed back into a tonne of crowd-proof singalongs. Black Eyed Peas? Played it. Sir Mix-a-lot? Played it. Ghostbusters tech house edit? Mate, you’ll never guess, he went there.
Now to take it backstage - I’ve seen some cool as green rooms in my time. But what I have never seen is an extra pair of CDJ3000s, another V10 and a RMX1000 for afters! Or practise. SICK! Party’s on. A couple drinks later and a very nervous hello to the Fish himself (who was absolutely lovely btw) we called it a day!
In my opinion, the coolest thing about yesterday other than breaking records, or even opening for Fisher (omg I did that!!!), was 23,000 people enjoying a day of house music. You guys should come to house raves more often, they’re super fun xx
