Jackson Owens from Sons of Zion entertaining the crowd on Saturday night. Photo / Sharna-Lee England
Jackson Owens from Sons of Zion entertaining the crowd on Saturday night. Photo / Sharna-Lee England
The dust has barely settled on the weekend's inaugural Sound Valley music festival but organiser Gioia Damosso says she's already getting stuck into plans for next year's edition.
"There's not really any rest for the wicked," Damosso said.
"I've got a weeks worth of admin to catch up on, thenit's cracking on to announcing the dates for next year, and getting a line up on board.
"We want to keep that momentum going while it's still fresh in everyone's minds."
Oceanview Speedway would host the event again next year, Damosso said.
"We fell in love with that place, and the people who look after Oceanview are so lovely and supportive. It'll be over two days again, with camping as well.
"They're excited to build the event up alongside us, so that's really cool.
"Everybody has been saying 'God, you must want to sleep for a week now it's over', but I'm still in work mode, I'm getting straight back in there."
Almost 1000 people attended this year's event and Damosso said Sunday headliners Kora "were on fire".
Ladi6 in action on Sunday night. Photo / Sharna-Lee England
"They were so, so good.
"My favourite song is On My Mind, so I rushed to the side of the stage when they started playing that and pretty much collapsed my lungs singing along to it.
"Listening to them playing that song, with everyone dancing and having a great time, was the moment I thought 'yes, this is exactly what I wanted to achieve for Whanganui'."
Saturday's headliner, Whanganui locals House Of Shem, also wowed the crowd, Damosso said.
"You forget, maybe because they're from Whanganui, what a huge following they have.
"They've played all over the world and we're really lucky to have a band of that calibre that call Whanganui home. They were so supportive of Sound Valley, and they knew we didn't have the bank that some of these big promoters have.
"They were more interested in supporting something that was happening in their hometown."
The weather stayed fine for the entire two days of Sound Valley. Photo / Sharna-Lee England
The support of partners such as New Zealand Hempress and Kaitahi had also been invaluable, Damossa said.
"Kaitahi showed up on Thursday and stayed right to the end, just helping us get things done.
"It was like family members coming to the rescue, and the same goes for New Zealand Hempress.
"They came and set up and created an awesome little chill space for people to come and chill and get a massage.
"It means so much to have a Kiwi business provide that wrap-around support for you."
Despite initial fears that the national artists would think Sound Valley might be "a bit budget", Damosso said the feedback from the acts who travelled to Whanganui had all been positive.
"We were a bit worried, because we're not Auckland and we're not this big, flash operation," Damosso said.
"We did the best we could, but we didn't really know how the artists would react.
"I got a message from Barnaby (Weir) from The Black Seeds the next morning saying that his guys loved the event and the hospitality, and that it was a nice place to come to.
The Black Seeds played as the sun went down on Sunday. Photo / Daniel Boobyer
"That's kind of been the feedback across the board, really.
"I think a lot of the musicians hadn't even been to Whanganui before, let alone played here, and they were surprised how beautiful it is here."
Damossa said she and fellow organiser Koert Wegman would try to keep growing the festival slowly, and "get the people in there".
"If we get some new dates out really soon then people can put it in their calendars and have a whole year to plan things.
"There'll be lots of local bands on the bill again, and I want people who buy tickets to know that they're going to have an amazing time, no matter what the world throws at us."
