Rhythm & Alps

The meadow covering Terrace Downs is filled with tents like flowers in late summer, and people hangout all over the green. Oh, it's not Christchurch I'm talking about, although the wounds of last years devastating earthquake are still very much visible in the inner city. No, I'm laying in the grass too, chilling out with some everlasting snowfields marking an impressive scenery higher up in the Southern Alps.

We are into the second day of Rhythm & Alps and it's of no shame what the Kiwis and some UK-import bands have to offer to lead the crowd into 2013. People seem to be more relaxed and easy going than their neighbours "Down Under"; no fancy dresses, and especially no stress among the Maori people and descendants of white settlers and immigrants. It's everywhere present, be it in the public daily life or in TV. Kiwis work it out together. They enrich their life and present the co-existence proudly to visitors and the rest of the world - while "Aussies" only began to work up their role and actions in taking over the continent from the small minority of aboriginal tribes.

Bands like Soul System, Electric Wire Hustle and Departure Lounge gave great performances - examples of an enriched sound and vibe. But also the UK duo SBTRKT Live fitted perfectly into this kind of outreaching concepts and performances. As I didn't join an open-air festival over night for a long time, I experienced first time that DJs in duo-acts - like UK-based Disclosure and SBTRKT - combining their clubmix vibes with live performances on drums and vocals. The crowd enjoyed them a lot, though I'm not sure to what extent the excessive alcohol consumption contributes for partying all night long into dawn. Overall - under the eyes of some rangers on their horses up in the hills - they look all up again for a second long night of rhythm and a full moon over the alps.

What a great festival it was, indeed. On my way down to "Scottish" Dunedin, turning back for a last glimps of the mountainous landscape of Terrace Downs, I hardly imagine that folks in their thousands had a good time up here during the last days, as tranquility and nature returned to reign.

That's what a road trip is all about. The New Year's Party at the Octagon in the heart of Dunedin - the old Gaelic word for Edinburgh - is on schedule. And to celebrate in style I am going to check in for the first time during my journey around the globe in a hotel: the old-fashioned Law Courts Hotel just a stone-throw next the centre square that has eight corners. Oh, a hot bath (to counter the ever changing weather under arctic influence), mini bar, TV, and a Queen-size bed with four soft pillows. What a start into the new year : )


ps (with a new year and all our wishes and desires in mind): 
Though I still owe you getting down to paper some thoughts of my "encounters" with Richard Katz on our journeys along the north and south islands in "Middle Earth", I would like to share with you his comment - obviously in anticipation of the darkening times that Europe was heading towards - on the changeable weather he was (and I am still) experiencing "down" in the Southern Alps: "Nevertheless, a nation prospers despite abrupt temperature changes, as long as it stays retained from abrupt social disparities." Have a peaceful and prosperous new year.