Having survived Covid, severe weather events and road closures of past years, The Coro Classic welcomed 7000 festival goers to Matarangi this year. Photo / Alison Smith
Having survived Covid, severe weather events and road closures of past years, The Coro Classic welcomed 7000 festival goers to Matarangi this year. Photo / Alison Smith
As fields pulsated with basslines on the rural outskirts of Matarangi, the 7000 spirited festival-goers at The Coro Classic did little to draw the concern of nearby cattle.
This year’s Coro Classic by the Nexgen Touring team once again successfully accommodated the party-craving thousands in and around a sleepy semi-ruralCoromandel Peninsula holiday town that counted just 651 permanent residents in the 2023 census.
Buses transported ticketholders from around the peninsula and a stream of mums, dads and others patiently drove through the drop-off zone from local baches that housed many of the mostly 20-something crowd.
Having survived Covid, severe weather events and road closures of past years, The Coro Classic just gets better.
Festival fashion was on-point - from gumboots and racoon hats to sequins - and designer thrift scarves were selling out at Anissa Greenlee’s stall.
“I think it started in Australia from all the dust, and it’s become a trend.”
Genuine tattoos were also booked out by those choosing to permanently ink themselves at The Coro Classic.
The DJ stage kicked off with DJ Sunray, Lucy, and progressed to blistering sets on sundown by Camrin Watson, Ross From Friends and Disrupta, before Issey Cross sang live to a tent too packed to move.
Designer thrift scarves were selling out at Anissa Greenlee’s stall. Photo / Alison Smith
New this year was the Kitchen Disco stage, serving up house and pop (the musical kind) with a happy, smaller crowd vibe.
Three stages in total featured artists from New Zealand, Australia, the UK and elsewhere.
They included main stage acts Scribe, The Black Seeds, No Cigar and UK garage collective Kurupt FM - who may have started out in a UK mockumentary but take their fame and fan base seriously at festivals.
After delivering a set that at one point got the entire audience to crouch down or show they were racist, Kurupt FM came out to greet and offer selfies with fans.
New this year at the Coro Classic was the Kitchen Disco stage, serving up house and pop. Photo / Alison Smith
Allan ‘Seapa’ Mustafa dutifully autographed one woman, who had scrounged around and offered him a coloured pencil and bottle of tabasco sauce with which to sign her skin.
Co-organiser Kurt Barker, of Nexgen Touring, confirmed one medical response that involved a rescue helicopter, and thanked the on-site medical and emergency services teams for their support.
“Attendee safety is always our top priority and we’re pleased with how all safety procedures worked.
“Overall, we’re very happy with how it went and before increasing numbers, there are a few site and infrastructure improvements we’ll fine-tune to ensure the safety and experience remain as we expect.”
Alison Smith is a former editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post. She is also a Thames-Coromandel District councillor.
