From Burlington, U.S.A to Opononi NZ – The End of the Road for 09

Wow, what a choice time we had finishing off our NZ tour with John Brown’s Body.

The last leg of the tour saw us play Auckland’s Powerstation. I still think this is one of the best venues in the country because it’s very pro, you can see and hear from anywhere, and the stage is wide and high. It sold out on the night which made for even more good energy in the room.

Then we headed to the wonderful Hokianga, to Opononi, where we played under the stars on a beautiful Saturday evening. The crowd heaved and swayed and I had a few moments while listening to John Brown’s Body for the last time of the tour, they really crushed every gig. Lucky this time I avoided getting stoned to death with the locals

After the show Nigel instigated a jam in one of the units we were staying. This meant unpacking some of the gear and lighting again (thanks Tony and Don).

Before you knew it, 2am, we had a hot jam going which was now well lit by Don our Lighting artist. We were just rotating on the instruments with the guys from JBB for hours… drinking and playing and enjoying the freshness of the music that seemed to be gushing out of us…. I guess we had just done 40 shows with mostly the same music so now it was time to let out all the other ideas that were hiding in our skulls. There couldn’t have been a better way to end our massive mission from Burlington Vermont U.S.A to Opononi in the Hokianga.

A big shout out to John Brown’s Body, who took a risk with The Black Seeds, they took us literally to the States for a tour and then ventured down to N.Z to share their conscious roots with us all. Overall it was pretty mega, so thanks to all the new and old fans that supported us through it.

Barnaby