The Gatherers
Friday 25 January at 7.30pm
National Radio 101FM
or listen live online at www.radionz.co.nz

You can also grab the podcast from the Radio New Zealand website at radionz.co.nz/popular/music/talk – search on “G”.

Yaay!

I got an email a few weeks ago from Kirsten Johnstone at Radio New Zealand. She’d seen The Gathering archives website and was so inspired by it that she decided it was high time to do a documentary on The Gathering and the Gatherers.

She interviewed me a week or so later, and I put her in touch with a bunch of other Gathering crew and Gatherers. She’s been interviewing them too, and putting together the hour-long documentary.

Here’s how they describe it on the Radio New Zealand website:

1:06 pm The Gatherers

Looking back on a New Years party that everyone seems to have a story about: The Gathering.

Starting in 1996, this three-day event at the top of Takaka Hill near Nelson drew in fifteen thousand people at its peak. Everyone was there to have a good time, contributing to an amazing sense of community spirit along the way.

We recall the crawl up the single-lane dirt road to Caanan Downs, the sound of a dull ‘doof doof’ in the background and the twinkling of glitter up ahead. We reminisce with musicians, organisers and punters about the golden age of dance music in Aotearoa, the freaks and the faeries, the filth, the sun, the rain, and the partying.

There is a new on-line archive of stories and photos celebrating The Gathering, and the original venue will host a dance party again this New Year’s Eve.

They’re broadcasting it on the afternoon of December 29, which is timed to coincide with the start of the Canaan Downs Festival. How cool! They asked me about my expectations for the festival, so it’ll be interesting to see what they include.

Here’s how to listen – on the radio, online, via Sky Digital, Freeview, or afterwards for a week or so as a podcast on demand.

Don’t miss it!