Over Auckland anniversary weekend Mystery Creek in Hamilton saw over 25,000 keen fans flood through the gates for the annual Parachute Music Festival. Now in its nineteenth year, the festival has grown from a humble beginning at a campsite in Waikanae to become the largest Christian music festival in the world, outside of the US. This year was no less successful than previous years, with a host of local and international acts playing at the festival, some as newcomers, and some as seasoned crowd favourites. The enormity of the event makes it impossible to review every gig, so I thought I would focus on just a few that I found memorable.

What I felt to be the best gig of Friday night was the set played by South Auckland punk rock band Mumsdollar, the festival favourites who returned to Parachute once again in their 10^th year as a band. Despite playing in a relatively early timeslot, they were very well received by a small (by Mainstage standards) but very enthusiastic crowd. The set included many of the tracks of their latest album, Ruins, as well as a few tracks off previous albums Eastern Time and A Beautiful Life, and they even managed to squeeze in Hooray For Badboys, a track from their very first record For Christ’s Sake. Crowd favourites seemed to be their recent single Sticks and Stones and their final song Sunrise, but throughout the set they held the attention of the audience well.

The highlight of Saturday was an amazing set from Dave Dobbyn and his band, who were the final act to play Mainstage on Saturday night. Earlier in the day at his press conference, Dobbyn had mentioned that one of the most memorable gigs he has ever played was two years ago at Parachute 07, in which torrential rain started falling halfway through the show. He described how nobody left when the rain came, including him, and swore after that night that he would return to the festival. Well come back he did, and his performance this year was equally as impressive as it was two years ago.

He played all the songs seem to have become an iconic part of kiwi culture, including Wailing at the beginning of his show and Language half-way through. He ended with crowd favourite Loyal, before coming back for a double encore of Welcome Home and Slice of Heaven. The set remained light hearted throughout, and the mood was summed up by Dobbyn jokingly informed the crowd that “da da da bom bom da da da” was the best lyric he ever wrote as 10,000 people belted out the final chorus of Slice of Heaven. The performance was on the whole extremely professional, due not only to Dobbyn’s musical skill but also that of his backup band, which, among others, included LA Mitchell, members of The Electric Confectionaries, and members of Lucid 3.

Earlier in the day was an impressive set by pop-punk four piece All Left Out, who returned to Parachute to play their biggest gig since recently coming back from a massive overseas tour. The band has been on the road since the beginning of ’08, playing gigs all over the US, even managing to get a slot in the iconic Warped Tour, and the experience of such a big tour showed in both of the two sets that they played. When I last saw them play a year ago, they were good, but at times seemed a little rough around the edges, occasionally lacking the little something that makes a live gig so much better than a CD, but a year later this had changed. All Left Out are clearly still the same guys that used to drag a trampoline onstage to do flips on as they played, but these days they have a much better stage presence, and they seem to know each other better as a group. Their new album The Conquest is certainly worth checking out if you have the chance.

However, it was not just the headliners that made Parachute festival memorable, there were also a number of smaller bands that I had never really heard much of before. One of these was a band from Palmerston North called Ruski, a five piece who’s sound I would describe as a blend of indie, rock and punk. They had a set early on Saturday evening at the debut stage, so the crowd was quite small, but those that were there responded enthusiastically, and for good reason. The drumming and guitar work was tight, and I was particularly impressed the bass skills of female bassist Shorty Galuszka. I also felt that the addition of a keyboard contributed to the originality that the band brought to the stage, transforming them from the often dull drums-bass-guitar combo that is common of so many groups, into something a little more unique. Having a female lead vocalist also added to this as well. Ruski were easily the most impressive debut stage band that I saw over the course of the weekend, and I would definitely recommend having a look at their MySpace sometime to have a listen for yourself.

Another band who I had not heard much of was an alternative/hardcore band called Addison. I first saw these guys on Friday afternoon at the deluxe stage, but in all honesty was not completely convinced that they were worth watching again. However, reflecting on the gig later with friends we realised that most of the band were talented musicians, and that the only real letdown was the underwhelming performance of the lead vocalist. Added to that, the band had a terrible timeslot on Friday afternoon, and we all decided that with a better crowd and in a better timeslot the band could make a much better impression. These hunches were proved right the next night when Addison played again, this time on the debut stage, to a much better crowd. This time the vocalist was far better, and it made all the difference. The rest of the band played just as well as the previous evening, and they all managed to work the crowd in a way they hadn’t been able to achieve during the earlier set. It is an easy genre to play badly, but of the hardcore bands I saw during the weekend, Addison would definitely have been the best.

The final act I had the pleasure of seeing was a three piece indie band from Auckland called Needles and Bees. The played on the White Elephant stage, a smaller venue dedicated to indie bands, and despite being an unknown to me, made a very good impression. The musicianship of the entire band was good, but it was the lead singer who stole the show, as he also managed to play guitar and keyboard during the set. The way in which the songs were layered with separate parts recorded over the top of each other with such ease was mind-blowing, convincing me without a doubt that these guys are headed for bigger things. The bass player and drummer provided excellent support, but the musical and technical display put on by the lead singer was simply fantastic, making Needles and Bees the definite highlight of Sunday evening.

Overall, it was an amazing weekend, which showed just how well the Christian music scene, and the New Zealand music scene in general, is doing at the moment. Very few fans would have gone away un-satisfied with the shows that were on offer, as with such a massive range of acts on offer, there was something to please everyone. Next years event is sure to be even bigger, with Parachute celebrating its 20^th year, but organisers will have a tough job ahead of them to improve on this year’s festival. For anyone who has never been, I would seriously recommend going, as there were so many other great bands out there that I would never have time to mention. It seems Parachute is going from strength to strength, and I am sure it will only get even better in the future.

View all photos taken at the Parachute 09 Music Festival here.
Reviewed by Luke
Photography by Andrew Graham