Now we are six we can go to gigs
Should you take young children to music festivals? Before you make a decision, parent-of-two Chris Schulz has some words of advice.
I’d wanted it to be a special occasion. A bonding experience. A father-and-son’s big day out, the first, hopefully, of many. Chris Schulz on taking his son
Arlo to his first gig.
Agrassy field, a sweltering sun, a packed house. In West Auckland, a stadium full of sweaty music fans was going off. It was mid-afternoon, and one-hit hip-hop wonders House of Pain were on stage ripping through their one hit, the 1989 banger Jump Around.
Fans did exactly that, surging towards the front of the stage, throwing their friends on to shoulders, splashing their bourbon and Cokes overhead. The air smelt sweet and sticky.
Undoubtedly, that moment was one of the highlights of 2016’s Raggamuffin music festival, a now defunct all-day annual hip-hop and reggaecentric event.
I was there. But I didn’t see a single second of House of Pain’s performance.
Instead, I was sitting on a ride-on tractor with my son as we did figure-of-eights on a grass field some considerable distance from the stage.
I couldn’t see the band. I could barely see the crowd. But I could hear the music, and fans’ rapturous response.
As amusic lover, missing that moment was brutal. Itwas also entirely my own fault.
I’d decided that, at the age of 6, it was time for my son to experience his first music festival.
I’d wanted it to be a special occasion. A bonding experience. A father-and-son’s big day out, the first, hopefully, of many.
We had come prepared. I had packed tiny ear plugs, so we could safely spend the day seeing the day’s headlining acts, Macy Gray, UB40, Xzibit and Wu-Tang Clan.
I had pictured us near the front of the stage, hoisting him on to my shoulders, high-fiving each other between songs.
My son had very different plans. Once we were through the gates, he decided to take charge.
In our first hour there, he bullied me out of nearly $100. It was no to the music, no to the crowds, no to House of Pain.
It was yes to filling his face with hot dogs, candy floss and multiple icecreams. It was yes to a very expensive tractor ride doing endless figure-ofeights around an otherwise empty paddock.
It was also yes to calling his mother to pick him up early.
I stayed on to see Wu-Tang Clan’s first New Zealand performance. It was wonderful.
Should you take your kids to music festivals? If you’d asked me after that day, the answer would have been a resounding, hell, no.
In hindsight, the mistakes Imade at Raggamuffin were glaringly obvious. At 6, my son was clearly too young to experience an all-day, adult-oriented hip-hop festival.
But I didn’t give up. A year later, I took him to see his favourite band, Twenty One Pilots, perform at Spark Arena. He asked if he should bring a book in case he got bored. There was no chance of that.
From the moment they arrived on stage, he was hooked. He didn’t move amuscle. His jaw dropped open. He barely spoke aword.
I kept asking him if he was OK. There was no reply.
He was just fine. My son was busy having his mind blown. His favourite band was right in front of him, metres away.
There were magic tricks and disappearing acts, the drummer crowd surfing while glitter cannons went off over the front rows.
He loved every second of it. He was finally ready to appreciate the magic of a big gig. So it’s that show that I count as his first official concert.
These days, we’ve been to plenty of gigs together. We went to Auckland City Limits to see Scribe and Future. On Auckland’sWaterfront, my daughter slept on a blanket as we saw in the New Year with Tom Scott and Ladi6.
We went to a second Twenty One Pilots show. It was just as good as the first.
The lessons? You have to pick the right gigs. Shorter shows are good. Early-evening shows are better. Taking plenty of family and friends to babysit your kids at family-friendly festivals is the best.
If you’re thinking about attempting one, New Plymouth’s Womad festival is the best place to start. There, you can set up a base of blankets and chilly bins on a grassy bank, settle in, and let your kids come and go as they please.
It’s warm and welcoming. It’s sunny and safe. You can bring your own food. It’s brilliant.
But even with older kids, it doesn’t always go right. My son is 10 now, and at Benee’s recent Spark Arena show, he soon decided the New Zealand TikTok queen wasn’t his thing.
He complained about all the shrieking. He kept asking for drinks. He made us move seats constantly.
When we were in the stands, he wanted to be on the floor. When we went to the floor, he wanted to be back to the stands.
Halfway through Benee’s otherwise excellent show, Iwas exasperated. It felt like we were back at Raggamuffin, where all this started.
I wondered if I could placate him with some candy floss and a tractor ride. But he’s getting a bit old for that.