Love over all, mash it up

Love, love, love, love

I feel it in my soul

Twenty thousand people in Tauranga were feeling that love too, along with thousands more around the world, as the Bay's homegrown superstars L.A.B came on stage to close the two-day One Love Festival, wowing the adoring crowd with their latest chart topping hit Why Oh Why – a song that sums up the One Love phenomena.

The sold-out event, presented by Pato Entertainment alongside Greenroom Vodka and Mai FM wrapped up on Sunday night with thousands flooding through the gates each day at Tauranga's Wharepai Domain to see the best of New Zealand roots and reggae music. As well as L.A.B, the stellar line up including Sons of Zion, Fat Freddy's Drop, Katchafire, and the iconic Dave Dobbyn.

'The love is real, the hype is real, we feel it,” says L.A.B front man Joel Shadbolt.

Speaking to SunLive before their set, Joel says it was an 'honour” to be asked to finish the show for the second year in a row.

'To get to finish One Love is pretty special, and it is so cool that we are live streaming so people around the world can watch.”

L.A.B performing at One Love.

While 2020 left most of the world asking ‘Why Oh Why?' for different reasons than L.A.B's latest chart topping love song, Joel says last year was amazing for the band.

Since L.A.B. closed last year's One Love Festival in January 2020, they have enjoyed phenomenal success.

Their 2020 hit In the Air dominated the airwaves for the whole of the year, and ranked as New Zealand's best performing single of 2020. At the Aotearoa Music Awards the band was named Best Roots Artist and also won the much coveted People's Choice award.

When New Zealand came out of lockdown, L.A.B made world history when they performed their sold-out concert to thousands at Auckland's Spark Arena, which was not only the first post lockdown show in New Zealand but in the whole of the world.

Releasing their new album L.A.B IV in late December, Why Oh Why debuted at number one, scoring them two number one's in a calendar year.

Currently they are dominating the top five with Controller, a song from their first album soaring back to popularity.

'Controller is always one of my favourites to play live. I think that as more people come to our shows, they are dipping back to our previous albums and discovering sounds that they like. The new songs are lifting up the old songs. We love that.”

Joel says that releasing new music made each live show unique and exciting, and starting 2021 with the One Love show was a 'hype so big we can feel it, it is amazing.”

It's easy to see why they are soaring in popularity, watching them live they ooze class and talent with their much loved songs taken to a new level live.

One Love Festival organiser Pato Alvarez of Pato Entertainment says L.A.B were the perfect end to the two-day festival, now in its seventh year.

Traditionally celebrating reggae acts from around the world, due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year One Love Festival showcased the best of Kiwi reggae and roots music.

Pato says since he started One Love, he always promoted the country's local music alongside the world's bigger acts, as he totally rates the musical talent of the country, 'as you can see from the likes of L.A.B.”

The rest of the world was not forgotten, as the event was live streamed free.

'We are so grateful we can bring this festival to the fans, but mindful that around the world people cannot even go out. So we wanted to take our little piece of Aotearoa and share the love around the world,” says Pato.

The artists, too, were conscious to share New Zealand's culture of art and music around the world. On Day One, Bay superstar Stan Walker introduced his song Aotearoa as a One Love anthem, saying it meant more now than ever as the world was suffering in the global pandemic.

Feeling the aroha

Of particular note was how the organisers had made fan safety a priority with free water, sunscreen and a COVID team reminding people to sanitise. Regular sprays of water cooled off the revellers, and fan security meant you felt safe.

Everyone working, from the vendors to security also gave off such great vibes and laughs with the crowd.

As I wandered around during the two days, I really noticed this warm friendly welcome by the team which spread into the crowd. I don't think I have ever had so many hugs and laughs and chats with total strangers! Yes I felt the love!

For Pato, One Love is not just a one off annual festival but a ‘movement', in which he wants to share the love back into his community.

"The love for One Love Festivals keeps growing and we feel very blessed for it. One Love was my first festival so it has a big place in my heart. It feels like we are really doing something – not just bringing great music to Tauranga, but giving back to the community by putting dollars in the pockets of locals.”

Combined with its sister festival Bay Dreams North (also organised by Pato and his business partner Mitch Lowe), the events have brought 50,000 people into the Bay of Plenty region – all of whom boost the economy by associated spend.

Given that people are not spending on overseas holidays and events, the figure could be substantially more.

Certainly watching the crowds at One Love over the two days, there was no holding back on spends on food and drink, pre parties and after parties, and the town was buzzing.

The vibe was definitely party like it's 2021!