Coro Classic rewards festival bravehearts

Sun breaks through at Coro Classic 2023. Photo / Alison Smith

In the reality summed up best by Fred Again’s epic song Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing), dance music lovers experienced a moment of triumph as the setting sun slanted golden rays onto a muddy paddock at Matarangi on Saturday night.

Almost against all odds, the Coro Classic one-day festival was hosted by Coromandel Luxury Escapes on the outskirts of the remote tiny coastal town, bringing a much-needed chance for some albeit-difficult dancing to top international acts.

Fred Again, the British DJ and producer who wrote Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing), wasn’t among the acts at Coro Classic but his anthem was released on February 22, 2021, proclaiming “This year we’ve had to lose, Our space, All these things that We took for granted, We’ve lost, We’ve lost Dancing”, is like a liferaft for us electronic music lovers.

In stressful times, go dancing. It might explain why thousands put on their sensible shoes — gumboots — and were in such good spirits at the Coro Classic.

DJs on the Durex stage worked from 3pm to 11pm with a crowd unable to successfully cut up the dance floor given the stickiness of the muddy ground, but no one was complaining.

On the Coro Stage, nine uplifting and varied acts included the Fleetwood Mac tribute show, Leisure, Australian Dope Lemon aka Angus Stone and England’s classically trained multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer/songwriter Elderbrook, whose DJ set inspired the feet to defy the suck of the mud.

Festival organisers did a stellar job with constant updates on “the socials” in the week leading up to the event as gig after festival fell victim to the weather.

Although it may not have seemed possible to get to the event on the Coromandel Peninsula after heavy rain, slips, civil defence advice to depart in the week prior, and road closures even on the day, an estimated 3000 hardy ticket-holders made it to Matarangi.

Hazards included a January 6 slip on SH25 from Coromandel Town to Te Rerenga near Matarangi that was reopened at 4.09pm on the day of the festival.

Sadly, a serious crash south of Tairua and north of Hikuai on the afternoon of January 7 closed travel between Whangamata and Thames up the eastern Peninsula, leaving the option of the unsealed Tapu Coroglen Rd or the 309 Rd over the Coromandel Ranges.

Promoter Kurt Barker said he’d learned to hold his nerve as a festival organiser after a gig in previous Covid times had to be cancelled two weeks prior and another one, one week beforehand.

“We were in constant comms with police, NZTA, Civil Defence and road workers and they all gave us the updates. You plan for this thing two years out and literally spend every day working on it, so we wanted to be sure we’d exhausted all options before even considering cancellation.

“To go through the week we’ve had and against all odds the sun was shining at one point really made us feel like it was meant to be and that it was all worth it.”

Care is always required when driving the Coromandel, which is, after all, a rainforest with craggy peaks that draw the weather. We are not just the Coromandel, we’re the Coromandel Peninsula, and that’s almost an island.

Neither the 309 nor the Tapu-Coroglen is for the fainthearted but they are lifeline roads for locals, providing an alternative route when flooding occurs.

When it comes to attending gigs in the summer of 2023, perseverance and patience are learned behaviours after years where “we lost dancing”, and a trip on these roads was a must for some.

Thank goodness for festival organisers like these guys holding steady, and a salute to the happy ticket-holders who in 2023, ensured the dancing returned.