The band was due to sing at Riddu Riddu on the day of the massacre, but sang instead at a memorial concert on the festival site that night. Their return two years later was described as "part of the healing"' by festival organisers. Another highlight was Sziget (Budapest), the biggest festival in Europe. They shared the stage with international acts such as Blur, Nick Cave, Franz Ferdinand and DJ David Guetta playing to more than 360,000 partygoers.
"Laurence and Kemara were nimble on their feet, all right," Maniapoto said.
"I burnt my hand just touching the microphone. Our audience, who were mainly in bikinis and shorts, were hiding under the trees, desperate to be out of the sun.'
The two experienced haka performers also ran daily haka workshops during the festival and saw that children could cast aside inhibitions a little easier than adults.
"There was this kid from England - he was watching us tell the participants to put a bit more grunt into it," said Kershaw.
"He just couldn't help himself. He screamed out the commands over the top of all the adults and totally nailed it. Deadly serious, too."
Moana & the Tribe had a sell-out concert in Warsaw, performed at the Ulsan World Music and Jarasum International Jazz Festivals (Korea) before ending their tour at the inaugural Boomerang Festival, established by Australian festival director Rhoda Roberts and Byron Blues Festival promoter Peter Noble.
"I was nervous about bringing a live drummer into the band," said Maniapoto. "They always seemed to hog sound check time and drown out the vocalists but not Mickey. He is a very tasty drummer and a great vocalist."
The group was formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Maniapoto. Other Rotorua members included Scotty Morrison, Aneta Morgan, Horomona Horo (now based in Palmerston North) and bass player Max Stowers (now in Sydney).
