What's On: Crash Palace concert

Some of New Zealand's best music acts will be rocking the Crash Palace Backpackers carpark this Saturday to celebrate the launch of their renovated building.

After four months of renovating one section of the building at a time, Crash Palace is now ready to be relaunched _ and they're doing it with style.

MC Tali, one of the most prolific MCs to come out of drum and bass in the past 10 years, and Sunshine Sound System will be performing in the carpark of the backpackers on Saturday night, supported by DJ Exile, DJ Chiccoreli and MC Dreadeye.

Owner Chris Woodney said whenever he had gigs, they had a positive vibe with no issues.

"It's just different. It's an outdoor venue in our carpark, the building has a tendency to invite cool, happy people in. We haven't had any issues at any of the gigs, we're just a cool, happy, friendly place to experience the best talent that New Zealand has to offer.''

Other artists that have played at the Crash Palace have included Salmonella Dub, Tait Kora, Knights of the Dub Table and Cornerstone Roots _ although Mr Woodney said this weekend's event would be the first gig they'd had since 2009.

"It's sort of a one off thing, the council have let us do it because of all the work we've done on the renovation of the building.''

Mr Woodney said he and his partner Toni Wright were huge New Zealand music and art fans and this reflected the way the backpackers was run.

``I support New Zealand music, it's my passion. Art is my partner's passion, we've combined the two in our living environment here at Crash Palace.''

The renovations were all done by the couple, including much of the art work and although the work may have affected some of their customer ratings, they hoped to be even higher in the rankings for 2013. Mr Woodney said it had been a massive project and the gig was a way of saying thank you.

The event is R18 and runs from 6pm until 10pm. Ticket presales are $25.