SOUTHERN AMP 2 NEWS

ALL THE LATEST SAMP2 NEWS & INFORMATION

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING VIDEO LINKS TO CAPTURE A SNIPPET OF THE SOUTHERN AMP EXPERIENCE!!

TV3 NEWS - VIEW HERE 

C4TV REPORT - VIEW HERE

Listen to the Amp and forget the damp!

The Press | Monday, 12 November 2007

The damp did not stop the amp. A crowd estimated at 6000 shrugged off a drizzly Christchurch Saturday to soak up Southern Amp 2, a music festival featuring some of New Zealand & Australia's top rock & dance acts.

Event organiser Neil Cox said despite the weather – even forecasters had not predicted the small band of rain which hovered over the city – the crowd at AMI Stadium was double that of the inaugural festival two years ago. Cox said the event set the scene for a bigger Southern Amp next year, when organisers would look to bring a major international act. Cox said the event would be scheduled around the same time of the year, despite the unpredictable conditions, because of the crowded music schedule later in the summer. He said the three stages at this year's event worked well, with each creating its own atmosphere and having its own following. One of the unexpected successes was the popularity of the stage featuring Christchurch bands, with the 500-capacity marquee packed at times to hear local acts like Bang! Bang! Eche!, Flying Solo, Tainted and Charlie Ash. "We were absolutely surprised by the amount of local following there," Cox said. He said organisers had not heard of any arrests or noise complaints from the festival. "People left smiling," he said. Main headline acts at the festival included Shihad, OpShop, Evermore, Thirsty Merc and Scribe.

Rain gives way to music

TV1 News transcript Nov 10, 2007 8:12 PM

The South Island's biggest music event got underway on Saturday despite threats of bad weather. Morning rain in Christchurch stopped just as Southern Amp started. More than 40 bands and DJs took to three separate stages during the Southern Amp 12-hour concert.

"It's brilliant. Really good music. I've never heard of most of the music before but I'm really enjoying it," says Rachael Bibby, a UK tourist. Less than an hour before the gates opened, rain had threatened to turn the event into a washout. But on cue the rain clouds disappeared and the show got into full swing, to the relief of event organisers. "When I pulled the drapes back this morning I thought 'no this is not fair'," says Neil Cox, organiser. "Realistically for the first couple of hours it was slow but they've been flooding in since about one o'clock and we're delighted." With three stages, every one's tastes have been catered too - dance music in one marquee, local bands in another, the main stage for all the top billings. Acts like Evermore, The Black Seeds, Shihad and Scribe were in the line-up. The organisers say it will be an annual event.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VODAFONE / AMI STADIUM & RounDUp 2007 - 20th AUGUST

 VODAFONE SPONSORSHIP – We are stoked to welcome Vodafone onboard as one of our key sponsors for Southern Amp 2. There will be all sorts of awesome promos and offers coming through Vodafone Music in the next few months leading up to the concert. The Vodafone Music store is NZ’s most integrated online music site and was the first mobile company here to offer Full Music Tracks to download straight to your mobile. Vodafone Music has a catalogue of over 700,000 tracks from all the major music labels plus key independents from all over the world as well as some of NZ’s hottest local content. You can purchase Full Music Track Downloads (FMTD’s) either through your mobile or the Vodafone Music online store, all you need is a My Vodafone login to download music, or if you don’t have a login you can get one easily by visiting www.vodafone.co.nz. Every FTMD purchased is delivered via dual delivery. No matter whether you purchase the FTMD through your mobile or PC, the track is delivered to both devices, e.g. download a track on your mobile and it will also automatically deliver a file to your PC…The competitive price of $1.99 per track means that digital music is now affordable for everyone, plus Vodafone offers you the added benefit of getting two files! Mobile music is taking over and Vodafone is the #1 seller of Digital music in the country!  Vodafone Music is the best way to buy your music without needing a credit card; all costs are put directly onto your mobile phone bill. Click on the Vodafone logo on the Southern Amp website to open up a world a digital music directly to your own mobile and watch your screen for some great offers coming soon!

AMI Stadium – You might or might not have seen and heard in the news last week, but Jade Stadium in Christchurch has now formally been renamed as AMI Stadium… No we haven’t switched venues and yes everything is still the same as far as Southern Amp is concerned, so don’t get confused, the date & venue are still the same but the venue name is just a bit different... There will be some advertising with Jade Stadium on it and some with AMI Stadium but for everyone concerned IT IS THE SAME VENUE (i.e. that big stadium in Christchurch where all the biggest things happen!!). So a big Southern Amp welcome goes to AMI, the new name on Christchurch’s iconic Stadium venue.

Annual RounDUp band competition – The institution that is the “Dux-de-Lux RounDUp”, RDU98.5FM’s annual band competition, is once again upon us. As always, perennial supporters, the Dux de Lux, will be hosting the 2007 event and now’s the time to register your band for the 2007 competition! Winners of the Dux-de-Lux RounDUp 2007 will be showered with prizes, including CD pressings, a music video, poster printing & placement etc but for the first time this year’s winners will also nab themselves the last remaining, and opening slot on the Christchurch Music Industry Stage at Southern Amp 2. Winners of the 2006 competition, The Tiger Tones are already confirmed for the SAmp2 bill. Go to www.rdu.org.nz click on the RounDUp icon and fill in the entry form online – but do it now because applications close on the 2nd September…For more information, call Hat at RDU98.5FM on 03 364 2983 x 5 or email hat@rdu.org.nz.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MAKE TRADE FAIR - 27th July

Southern Amp is proud to announce our association via Oxfam New Zealand to the global MAKE TRADE FAIR campaign, part of the continuing global call to Action Against Poverty. Help remind our world leaders of their promises to make affordable medicines available to all nations and join more than 20 million others worldwide who have signed up to The BIG NOISE to Make Trade Fair! In 2005 Southern Amp was proud to be associated with the global Make Poverty History campaign promoted by the now world famous white wristbands. We are delighted to welcome Oxfam NZ back onsite again this year at Southern Amp 2 to stamp our collective approval to Make Trade Fair! Visit www.maketradefair.com for more info or link to their website directly from this site.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

SOUTHERN AMP 2 – Second line-up announcements - Thurs 19 July
Saturday 10th November – JADE STADIUM CHRISTCHURCH
35 bands and DJs, 12 hours of non-stop live music on 3 separate stages

The first announcements for the SOUTHERN AMP 2 Live Music Festival 3 weeks ago created a huge reaction amongst concert fans around the country with the initial allocation of Earlybird tickets being snapped up at a furious pace. Now, as per our word, Southern Amp is delighted to announce the 2nd list of fantastic artists performing at this year’s event. General advance tickets at $99.50 go on sale from Monday 30th July (all prices exclude booking fees). Tickets are available through Ticketek & Real Groovy ticketing outlets or online at www.ticketek.co.nz.

Already announced on The Rock FM Main Stage are SHIHAD / THE BLACK SEEDS / ATLAS / OPSHOP / DUKES and THE VALVES. Joining them between 11.00am – 10.30pm will be:-

EVERMORE – A huge recent NZ success story being our first act since Crowded House to score a #1 in Australia with their single “Light Surrounding You”! The 3 Hume brothers from Fielding now have over 350 live shows under their belts including Big Day Out and their recent sell-out NZ national tour. Add to that an MTV Award, NZ Music Awards, the APRA Silver Scroll, five ARIA Award nominations (Australian Music Awards) and 2 multi-platinum albums, Evermore return to NZ again in November for Southern Amp 2.

THIRSTY MERC – Recent visitors to NZ as part of Evermore’s national tour, Thirsty Merc have quickly built up a reputation as one of Australia’s best & most hard-working live bands. After bursting onto the scene in 2003 with their debut self-titled album, including 2 big hits “In The Summertime” & “Someday, Someday” they toured endlessly to every corner of the Australian continent making strong inroads into NZ along the way. Their 2nd album “Slideshows” has just been released including current hit single “20 Good Reasons”.

THE VEILS – Based in the UK, formed in NZ & currently located in Oklahoma City USA having toured relentlessly around the World in 2007 including 3-4 months of sold out club shows in USA, endless festival appearances and headline shows in Europe, The Veils even found time to return down under for BDO 07 plus some sold out NZ club shows in January! With their much anticipated 3rd album due out later this year, The Veils’ enigmatic & energetic Finn Andrews will spearhead their amazing live performance at SAMP2.

dDUB – Renowned for their 'cranking and skanking' live shows, dDub are one of NZ’s best loved live acts becoming firm favourites at many nationwide outdoor festivals including Rhythm & Vines, Soundsplash & WOMAD. A powerful non-stop roots explosion of horns, harmonies & hands-high tunes, dDub recently returned from a successful Australian tour having signed a 3 album deal with Shock records in Australia.

Onto the 2nd stage! Ministry of Sound is the most recognisable dance music brand in the world and will host their own stage once again at Southern Amp 2 enclosed in a specially constructed ‘super-marquee’ featuring some of the best NZ & Australian club acts.

Already announced on The Ministry Of Sound / Edge FM Stage are CONCORD DAWN with MC TIKI / LADI 6 / KID KENOBI & MC SHURESHOCK / JOHN COURSE / GOODWILL and OB1. Adding their huge live talent to that bill will be:-

SCRIBE – Undoubtedly the biggest name in the NZ urban hip-hop scene, Scribe is the only NZ artist to have held simultaneous #1’s on both the NZ Singles and Album Charts. His debut album “The Crusader” sold Gold within hours and platinum within days with the single “Stand Up/Not Many” spending 12 weeks at the top, the longest running #1 ever by an NZ artist! With a brand new track “F.R.E.S.H.” out in August and his highly anticipated sophomore album out in October, Scribe will close the MOS stage at Southern Amp.

GREG CHURCHILL – Putting together parties & hosting radio shows since 1984, Greg Churchill is a legend within the NZ dance scene being voted NZ's Best DJ a few times now... Influenced by groups like Cabaret Voltaire & Depeche Mode, Greg became a producer as well as a DJ and his Remix of Jan Hellriegel’s “'Melusine” has become a classic. Ministry of Sound recently signed Greg to be the first in its latest series of mix compilations receiving glowing reviews and worldwide invitations to come and play.

DICK JOHNSON – Busting bold musical moves from Blackpool UK to Auckland NZ has made Dick 'Magik' Johnson a house music heavyweight in both hemispheres. Magik Johnson’s reputation for rocking a party began amidst the acid house madness of Manchester’s infamous Hacienda, where he was Saturday night resident alongside Graeme Park and Tom Wainright. His much anticipated second album, "You Are Sound", is in production and due for release in early October 2007.

TIMMY SCHUMACHER & MC KYLA – Timmy has been relentlessly championing the sound of beats & breaks in NZ for fifteen years. His unique sound comes across with plenty of energy, generosity and sincerity to an enthusiastic live following. Schumacher will combine forces with Wellington's MC Kyla for an unstoppable show of heavy basslines and rolling rhymes on the MOS stage at Southern Amp 2.

Two fantastic up & coming local Christchurch DJ acts will complete the 2nd list of announcements for the MOS Stage. DJ/Producer YUHEI KUBO is co-founder of the long running “Dirty Habit” club nights in the city setting a new and tougher standard in the local electro & techno scene. Opening the day for MOS will be live Electronica act RARE SHOT BLUE, combining Big Beat, Breaks, Electro, Hip-hop and glitch into a unique sound and a vibrant live performance!

As a reminder, the third stage is our Christchurch Music Stage. Only artists based in Christchurch, or of true Christchurch origin will be performing including CHARLIE ASH / HEAVY JONES / GASOLINE COWBOY / THE ENRIGHT HOUSE / TAINTED / FLYING SOLO / THE UNDERCURRENTS / ED MUZIK / THE TIGER TONES / 4MANBOB / BAND THEFT AUTO & finally ARTISTS of SHE’LL BE RIGHT RECORDS incl members of MUSTARD, TRILLION BAND and more…

That’s the 2nd list of artists complete but we are NOT saying it’s the final list just yet, Southern Amp 2 could well have a couple of surprises up its sleeve over the next couple of months… We’ll just say at this stage, that the stage doors are definitely not totally closed!! Southern Amp 2 is a 15+ age restricted event, under 15’s will be required to be accompanied by a parent or appointed guardian to gain admittance. Get prepared for a great day out on Saturday 10th November 2007 at Jade Stadium in Christchurch including thrill rides, great hospitality in a safe and secure world class venue.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

FIRST MEDIA RELEASE, THURSDAY JUNE 28