Six60 gives surprise performance at Hamilton Farmers Market

Six60 surprised Hamilton Farmers Market attendees with an impromptu performance on Sunday.

The evening before, some stallholders teased that a special guest would be at the market, though didn’t specify who it would be due to “security reasons”.

Six60, who are headlining Jim Beam Homegrown Festival at Claudelands Oval in March, were in Hamilton to watch the NRL All Stars matches and to celebrate their fifth studio album, Right Here Right Now, with fans at JB Hi-Fi at The Base.

Before that, the band was at Claudelands with the Homegrown organisers to film promotional material.

Initially, Six60 were just meant to visit the Hamilton Farmers’ Market, which is next door to Claudelands Oval, to sign CDs and give away some Homegrown tickets, but when they saw the crowd, they couldn’t leave without singing a few tunes.

All four band members, Matiu Walters, Ji Fraser, Chris Mac, and Marlon Gerbes, were present, but lead vocalist Walters was the only one to address the crowd.

“I had no idea we were gonna do this,” Walters told the crowd of a few hundred people.

“Someone said there was a rumour that we were playing and we were just next door and we couldn’t leave you hanging.”

Talking about their new album, Walters said: “We believe it’s our best work.

“We had the best time making this music.”

He sang three songs, We Made It, Endlessly - which is currently his favourite song from the new album, he said - and Don’t forget your roots, with Fraser, Mac and Gerbes there for moral support and quiet background vocals.

The last song had the crowd confidently singing along, while We Made It and Endlessly were met with quiet anticipation.

Six60's impromptu performance was attended by a few hundred people. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer

Walters said laughingly that the crowd would need to practise the songs, so next time the band plays them at the market, they could sing along.

Walters thanked the “mighty Waikato” and “great city of Hamilton” for their long-standing support of the band.

Hamilton Farmers Market manager Jen Wilkinson told the Waikato Herald the team was “very excited” about this opportunity.

“We haven’t had something this special before.”

Wilkinson said while there was a notable “uplift” in market attendees, she hadn’t received official data yet.

The Six60 concert at Claudelands Oval in Hamilton in February 2021.

“A lot of new faces attended. Not too many purchased, but I still think it was amazing exposure for our market.”

Six60 last played in Hamilton in 2021 at Claudelands Oval, on the last stop of their New Zealand Tour Six60 Saturdays.

That concert was attended by 25,000 people.

Six60, alongside Devilskin, Hello Sailor, Supergroove and Blindspott, will headline Jim Beam Homegrown at Claudelands Oval on March 14.

It will mark the festival’s return to Hamilton after 18 years in Wellington.

Six60 last performed at Homegrown in 2017.

Hamilton Farmers Market takes place at The Barn, on the Claudelands Event Centre grounds, every Sunday from 8am to 12pm.

Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.