Banjo's Big Day Out at Selwyn Sounds!

Saturday 7 March

Becoming a tradition… Selwyn Sounds is an epic one-day music festival which we loved so much last year, we booked tickets again this year!

Parked up at the school next door with a hundred other campers so it was just a short stroll over to the venue in the morning - laden with chairs, a mini table, gallons of sunscreen and an extensive picnic.

Huge queue to get in as the gates opened for regular punters at 10am but we were through by 10.30 and snagged a decent spot in the front section with our low festival chairs, with a great view of the stage

Automatic 80s kicked off proceedings with a medley of awesome 80s covers at 11am and got heaps of us up and dancing. 🕺 Men without Hats was a rocking start followed by Billy Idol, Nena, Roxette, Eurythmics, Soft Cell, Wang Chung and so many more. It was such fun seeing them again after they rocked our socks off in Timaru at the Festival of Roses back in December.

A bit peckish after the 80s retro bop, so we started on the cheese platter then had to hop back up again for Op Shop who were HUGE when we arrived in Aotearoa NZ back in 2009 but have been on hiatus for most of the last decade. They were the soundtrack of our first couple of years in NZ, played at the 1M customers for 2degrees party and at the zoo, and "One Day" is one of my favourite songs ever, even though it makes us think of the post office ad! We all remembered it and swayed along, misty eyed and howling out the lyrics!

MiSex, a kiwi 80s band were next, a little underwhelming for me as a) I only knew 3 of their hits and b) 75% of them are now dead so it was mostly ringers!

I spent ages cruising round the grounds taking pics of awesome outfits - the good, the bad & the seriously ugly. There were some pretty vibrant entries in the outrageous shirts competition - but the outstanding shirt was worn by our neighbour and 4-5 of her mates - a pink Hawaiian shirt bearing Ronan Keating's face!

There were some fabulous outfits on the women - naturally I was obsessed with pinks, florals and floaty textures 💕 - and also some funky faves around the place - a beaded denim jacket ❤️, pink cowboy hats (my gig headgear of the 2000s) 🩷, the pink & red top I modelled for ShineOn 🌸, awesome space pants & inclusive rainbow sweatshirt 🌈 , mixtape handbag 👜, bonkers hat 💜, one of many “I’d rather be at (insert heavy metal band hero)’s gig” T-shirts worn by late middle aged blokes 👕, dungarees made from a 70s caravan’s furnishings 🧡 & silver sequin jackets 🩶✨

My other occupation was filling up the water bottles as it was a scorchio day! Even had to resort to wearing a cold damp cloth round my neck to lower my body temperature and make life bearable - luckily I kept it classy with a Trelise Cooper tea towel! Had an awesome picnic lunch and kept on snacking through the afternoon & into the evening.

Mid-afternoon, When the Cat’s Away hit the stage and caused a flood of punters to surge forward and join in with the singing & dancing.

An iconic late 80s supergroup of female singer-songwriters they really rocked the field with friend of Ellamy Studios, Annie Crummer leading some awesome sing-alongs, in particular a fabulous cover of the Netherworld Dancing Toys hit "For today (I remember your smile)". They ended with a rousing rendition of Blue Mink's "Melting Pot" with which they had a number one hit in 1988 and EVERYONE sang along... if only we all believed in its message of inclusivity, it is a true anthem to racial harmony.

We nabbed a space close to the stage after the amazing women left and waited patiently for Tony Hadley (we love you madly) from Spandau Ballet to wow us with their iconic hits.

He came on, sat down in suit and silk scarf, Jack Daniels in hand and started crooning “I’m feeling good” and Louis & I looked at each other in horror as we feared he’d hit his Tony Bennett phase… but then he pushed back the stool and launching into all the songs we knew & loved accompanied by a fabulous tight band, romping through Spandau Ballet classic hits and a couple of brilliant covers (Queen & Elvis) as they were running ahead of time 🕰️ It was stinking hot still, but he persevered, sweating in his trademark tailored suit and looking a little beetroot in the face (someone threw him a hat to wear which he did for a brief moment, then he frisbeed it back into the crowd)

As golden hour hit, he launched appropriately into “Gold” to close the set - pretty damn amazing voice for a Gold Card pensioner!

A brief sojourn as the crew reset the stage and we all grabbed another beer/gin/wine/swig of water , then twenty minutes later Ronan Keating bounded on stage as the energetic closing act - Loving each day as if it's the last. He took a couple of strolls along the gantry on each side of the stage, really working all sections of the crowd, and kept going on about how old he was having just turned 49 that week (a few voices piped up singing happy birthday) - but after Tony Hadley he was a mere spring chicken!

So many hits and singalongs and quite a few name-dropping stories leading to brilliant cover songs before he stripped off down to his black vest to a roar of approval, and we rode the “Rollercoaster” of the finale. Awesome song, awesome performance and perfect end to a brilliant day 🤩

Hordes streaming out so we sat tight then I decided to start clearing the recycling litter left in front of the stage where everyone had been drinking & dancing, and was soon joined by Bonnie & Gavin. Between us we picked up tens of buckets of tins, bottles, plastic cups etc and filled 3/4 of a huge bin bag. Bottom pic in the montage shows the area we cleared on the right 👉 versus the bit we hadn’t started on, to the left 👈

Felt good to give something back after such a fab event!

Stumbled home, unpacked the remains of our picnic and fell into bed dreaming of the music of our youth!