Stan Walker's "dream came true" after performing at Te Matatini for the very first time today.
Performing as part of Te Reanga Morehu o Ratana, Stan made his incredible debut in front of the thousands of participants and punters in the crowd at Eden Park in Tamaki Makaurau.
The official Te Matatini TikTok account posted a snippet of Stan's jaw-dropping solo - turn up your volume to hear his amazing vocals accompanied by the amazing ropu.
Many commented in support of Stan's debut with one writing: "Never seen a man so proud of his culture, Stan always leading the way - Kia ora."
"I love you've come back to your roots Stan," wrote another proud fan.
A third shared their love for the beautiful performance writing: "my tears could not hold back on this beautiful performance."
Before hitting the stage, Stan revealed that performing alongside many of his whanau has been one of his most important goals.
"For me, and I know for the hearts of our people is to win people over; to be a hope and a light into their lives - that's a big thing for us, it's a big thing for me," Stan said in an interview with 1News.
He continues to call it one of the hardest things he's ever done after spending months of training.
"It's a lot of hard work, it's physical, mental, emotional preparation, and just building that stamina in all areas. It's challenging, it's been the hardest training, the hardest thing I've done in my life... but I've loved it."
"From September to now, we've been training basically nearly every weekend. So Friday nights, all day Saturday and Sunday. Then we have to do our home prep, I'm training at home because I'm brand new at this," he said.
