Let's hear it for crowd-pulling Aunty Anika

SUPERSTAR: "Aunty" Anika Moa, is a favourite with audiences of all ages. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

It was the most feel-good concert in Whangarei so far this year and could have filled a venue three times the size.

Some of the crowd stood on chairs, they cheered and sang along to the well-loved lyrics, some screamed, some cried, many sat on people's shoulders so they could see, others danced in the mosh pit.

It was all too much for some - they flaked out on the floor or in supportive arms. There was a "lost child" announcement: only 2 and already wanting to run away with the band.

There were Songs for Bubbas from albums one and two, with Anika Moa showing her star quality at the Whangarei Library during her In Between Naps tour yesterday. She rocked those lullabies.

Moa's patter was as entertaining at this little ragers' show as when she's dishing it out to adult audiences, and a vocal crowd let her know they loved her.

"I love how they're screaming at me," she said at one stage.

Earlier this month Moa appealed for a suitable venue in Whangarei, saying she needed one that could hold at least 100 people and be cheap enough to charge only a gold coin entry fee. The tour is to promote her latest collection of children's songs, Songs For Bubbas 2.

But to expect 100 boogie-loving bubbas underestimated Moa's pulling power. They were toddling in the aisles - or would have been if there were aisles - and spilling out from the children's section into the main library area.

Everyone could hear the catchy songs, but a host of little concertgoers might not have seen anything if big brothers, tall library staff and kind adults coming in to borrow books hadn't pitched in and hoisted up the smaller kiddies at the back.

At the end of the show, "Aunty" brought the house down after she thanked everyone for being there and finished with: "Let's hear it for meeeeee ... " Indeed.