Words by: Jessie Rongo Stevenson
Photos by: Tracy Mclaughlin
What better way to welcome in the new year than a celebration of culture in the beautiful Gold Coast? The L.A.B Experience was a taste of home for Kiwis and Pacific Peoples living abroad and a beautiful expression of unity – no matter where you are from. This all-ages event was the perfect opportunity for some of the older cousins to introduce the young ones to the festival and live music scene. It was wholesome to say the least! Lots of little ones tagging along with family members so excited to catch a glimpse of their role models for their first show. An overall theme that was clear was the respect for one another. This was such a celebration of the Pacific identity, which could be seen on smiling faces of the young and old, through tattoos from of all the islands, clothing representing home and the flags of resilience in the crowd.
Tiki Tane opened the event with a beautiful recognition of country thanking the First Nations Iwi and the locals for sharing this space so that we could come together and have a great time. Uncle Tiki was open that he was going to take the vibe of the crowd and share his love right back with an ‘on the fly’ performance. He read the room and played his heart out to the founder of Fat Fredd’s Drop – ‘Mu’ Faiumu who passed in July 2025. Many of us grew up with the smooth tunes of Fat Freddys Drop and his passing was felt right through the Pacific Islands so this dedication hit home for the crowd. Tiki gave a solid performance despite some technical difficulties. His decades of experience in live shows and humour made his transition through these hiccups a testament to his talents. He bought the good vibes and they just kept on flowing.
Te Wehi started with one of their top hits ‘Dead or Alive’ that has a call out from Bon Jovi’s release in ’87. This had the crowd grooving from the first verse. The whole band were so humbled to be performing here in the Gold Coast – Te Wehi being just a kid from small town, Aotearoa, now getting the chance to share his experiences with the big smoke through smooth soulful reggae with nods to rock and country. Te Wehi built the crowd up with his energy and good vibes to welcome Aaradhna to the stage next.
Aaradhna stepped on stage with a calm and welcoming atmosphere where she invited the crowd closer with her silky tones. The way she pushes and pulls the listeners along her musical journey is so soft and slow. Her range, control and buttery transitions is why she is a legendary member of Soul royalty. We took a journey through her musical career as she slowed down the pace to share her relationship with depression and back up again to some of her biggest hits, ‘Down Time’ a clear crowd favourite.
While the crowd waited for the legend Stan Walker to take the stage, we got to boogie to an unnamed DJ who bought an earthy, forest doof atmosphere. The parklands were buzzing ready for Stan to preach!
Stan Walker was in full force bringing his island reggae and gospel influences to the forefront of his performance. His messages of freedom of cultural expression run strongly through his lyrics which are a mix of English and Te Reo. His respect for indigenous peoples from all over were felt in his calls for self-determination of indigenous voices. He had the crowd in stitches encouraging everyone to sing along if they knew the lyrics but to ‘shhhhh’ if they were flat and to let the person next to them know to shush if they were flat too.
He played his newest releases opening with ‘I AM’ and his old stuff – Little Black Box from 2009 when he was still in Australia. He had guests join him on stage for the haka section of his performance and you could feel the tingle and crackle in the air. He had the crowd dancing when he did his shout out to the Cook Islands featuring a Cook Island ukulele. There was not one set of hips that weren’t swinging – mine included.
LAB were funky and feeling themselves on stage. They were smashing out their songs and throwing in some crowd favourite covers. Their performance was tight and it was clear that they were the crowd favourites. They had high energy, beautiful harmonies and they proved exactly why they were headlining the event with banger after banger. Their comfort and ease on stage was a testament to their strong relationship, putting in the hard work since 2016. They have come from the soul, reggae roots to burst into the alt’/ groove mainstage.
Massive whanau energy, respect and pride to be apart of such a beautiful event.
Big love, One love.
GALLERY
TIKI TANE
TE WEHI
AARADHNA
STAN WALKER
LAB
