Radio One 91FM

As the newest Radio One addition, I was super excited for Dankfest. I tried to convince my parents to come along to their usual haunt, The Crown, but was sadly turned down when I mentioned: "dank". To a couple of boomers, the only thing associated with dank is 'unpleasantly damp, humid, wet or cold', so I can see why I was rejected.

I arrived and, as usual, had forgotten something; earplugs. While I am a newbie and usually go without, Kristina had kindly yelled at me earlier this week about the importance of not going deaf. I was stressed for a moment before my saviour - Isaac - kindly gave me some spare from his hat (which was super dope).

With earplugs in and excitement to see some good music I started my night at dankfest. The first act was Strings Speak Mountains, who was super excited to hear play live - and even though I have 'seen' him play live at the Radio One for a live-to-air, I was without headphones, so all I heard for 15 mins was bass. He was awesome to see (and actually hear) and was a great first act to stir up the crowd.

I haven't actually been to a hardcore gig either, so I was excited to see a mosh in person. Seeing Fastplant and Strap and the mosh pits they created was so cool. I was keen to enjoy it from the side up until Strap, where I was trying to ask Ben if he wanted to go past me and into the mosh. I should have expected what happened next due to the fact that no one could hear each other, when Ben wrongfully assumed I wanted to go into the mosh and I was shoved in. 

Knowing me, I immediately ate shit and went down. But moshers support each other, and I was kindly lifted off the ground by three people. I returned to the safety of the edge of the pit, and as Ben was trying to apologise, I swung him back into the pit as payback. Safe to say I learnt my lesson about trying to talk to people with earplugs in, but I definitely had fun for the 3 seconds I was part of the pit. Next time I reckon I'll try again with purpose and not with platformed docs on.
Overall, I had a really fun time seeing a different side of the music scene in Dunedin and meeting lots of kind people! 10/10 would go again. Thanks Dankfest! Now I pose the question: are you in it for the dank or for the fest?

Credit: dunedinsound.com

Credit: Hannah Hemi

Credit: dunedinsound.com

Credit: dunedinsound.com

Credit: dunedinsound.com

Credit: dunedinsound.com

Credit: Hannah Hemi

Credit: dunedinsound.com