L.A.B and friends get huge crowd pumping REVIEW

• Author: Maddisyn Jeffares
• Published date: 25 January 2023
• Publication title: Napier Courier, The

The New Zealand reggae band was a big hit in Hastings over the weekend, drawing crowds in from all over Hawke’s Bay and further outside the region; I met people who had come from as far as Gisborne and Levin

L.A.B brought a festival-worthy lineup with them, including Australian surf rock band Ocean Alley, Flaxmere artists DJ Jayrasik and Tipene, singer-songwriter AACACIA, all-Māori New Zealand roots reggae band Katchafire, and Christchurch band Summer Thieves.

With act after act performing hit after hit, it really was a great evening in the Bay, and here is what you missed if you didn’t attend one of Hastings’s biggest concerts of the year:

Roads around the showgrounds were blocked off, and while we accidentally got into the long line of cars for parking instead of the drop-off line, we finally made it to the drop-off area, where it was only a short walk to the showground entrance.

Once through the entrance, there was a quick toilet stop for my group, and then we lined up with the masses to enter the actual concert.

I must say we didn’t get to the grounds until a little past 5pm and there were still crowds of people lining up, but the security team did a good job at getting us all through quickly and safely.

Once in, we headed straight to the drinks tent, paid the standard concert $12 per alcoholic drink and then made a beeline straight into the crowd just in time for Katchafire’s set.

Straight away, I will say there was a strong smell of weed coming from the pockets of certain attendants, and there were a few times we moved due to feeling like we may have been getting a second-hand high.

While there was a lot of drinking and smoking going on around us that night, everyone was happy and just having a good time. I saw only one small argument between a couple — the fighting was kept to a minimum around where I was, although throughout the night, I did hear of a few larger altercations, including fist fights and a possible stabbing; but I did not witness any of this.

Along with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, there was a diverse range of food options, including barbecue...