Jim Beam Homegrown 2011

One day, six stages, 45 bands and 14,000 eager fans. Kiwi music’s biggest party returned to the Wellington Waterfront yesterday – Saturday 5 March 2011, and it was massive!

New Zealand music doesn’t get any better than this.

With three successive sell outs and a reputation for delivering the very best Kiwi music, Jim Beam Homegrown (previously Vodafone Homegrown) upped the ante in 2011 adding a new Pop and RnB stage and a further 10 acts to an already impressive line-up.

Each of the six stages had its own flavour. The largest of them, the Vodafone Dub and Roots stage boasted a truly epic line-up with Shapeshifter joined by the legendary Trinity Roots, Tiki, Katchafire, Six60 and Salmonella Dub.

The Jim Beam Rock line-up had the first performance in two years from Blindspott. Thrown in with The Feelers,Midnight Youth, Elemeno-P, The Checks, I Am Giant and Black River Drive – It really was a wall to wall day of Kiwi rock.

It was an indilicious day at the Red Bull Studio Live stage as Flying Nun legends The Clean shared a massive bill withThe Phoenix Foundation, Die! Die! Die, Cairo Knife Fight,The Ruby Suns, Family Cactus and Artisan Guns. There was also an assortment of electro, pop and hip hop with new comers Kids of 88, Tommy Ill and Coco Solid.

On the new Vodafone Pop and RnB Stage a plethora of talent came to Homegrown for the first time. Dane Rumbleheadlined an all-star outing that includes J Williams, Savage vs. Scribe, Nesian Mystik, PNC, Kidz in Space, DJ Logikal, Ivy Lies, Motocade and hotly-tipped Wellington pop rock quartet Supermodel.

And it certainly didn’t let up on the Nokia Electronic stage with State of Mind live and Tim Phin joining the genre defining sound of The Upbeats, Dubstep pioneer Optimus Gryme and the fresh global sounds of Maya and Vanya, Dick Johnson and Clarke Gayford.

Last but not least the free to the public Amphitheatre stage featured the country’s premier 3 on 3 breakdancing competition and a mix of good time grooves from Sunshine Soundsystem, Jayson Norris and the Brazilbeat Sound System.