EYEGUM'S 'END OF YEAR? FUCK YEAH!' PARTY 

BY SOLOMON POWELL & HOANI HOTENE, NOISE REPORT 

Late last year, my friend Hoani and I were invited to cover Eyegum’s ‘End of Year? Fuck Yeah!’ party. The event only went ahead because New Zealand had just moved to the traffic light system, which, for the first time in many months, allowed for unlimited capacity standing gigs.

The sense of restlessness was palpable, so the scale of Eyegum’s party was fitting. You see, Eyegum had booked out both San Fran and Valhalla. When a band finished playing at San Fran everyone would drain out onto the street and head up to Valhalla, where another band were starting up. We had settled on making a short documentary about the event, so we showed up with a couple of
cameras and a little microphone.

Inside both venues it was chaotic and cramped, so interview arrangements quickly fell into disarray. Our modus operandi became: grab whoever we can and quickly usher them down the stairwell behind San Fran. The lighting setup consisted of my cell phone torch, which I held above my head.

By the end of the night, we had somehow managed to interview a handful of interesting people (who had not yet succumbed to exhaustion/inebriation). Hopefully, the resulting film captures what it felt like to play to a full capacity crowd again, as well as showcase some thoughts on what it means to be a musician during these times of covid.

- Solomon Powell.

You can read more musical ramblings from the Noise Report at noisereport.co.nz

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