Four festival-goers were admitted to hospital with drug-related issues after Friday’s event at Mt Smart Stadium. A fellow partier shares her experience of the night. As told to Madeleine Chapman.
I was hyping up for Schoolboy Q. Figured he’d play some old school tunes, some bangers. Honestly, I didn’t really care much for who was playing, I just wanted to boogie to some sick tunes. I was there to party. The louder the music the better. Of course I pre-loaded. I drank a box before we left the hotel and took a little something else. We jumped on the train and there were heaps of other people on their way to Mt Smart. They were even more wasted than we were, but they weren’t being rude. They were pretty mellow.
We got to the gates of the stadium at like nine o’clock and it was packed. It was a mission to get in. The first round was ID checking, then there was another massive crowd going into the metal detector area. The metal detector went off in the middle of my back and the guy asked what it was. I had to tell him it was my bra, like, come on, man.
They checked our tickets and bags after. Two of the guys I was with had tickets that didn’t work but it looked to me like they got let in anyway.
When we were walking down to the ground you could see the crowd overflowing out of the tent. There were people up in the stands and little pockets of people hanging around all over the grounds. I thought I saw a drug testing booth, but then I didn’t see any others so maybe it was just a portaloo.
Before we got anywhere near the tent, we could smell weed. It was everywhere. The tent was like the biggest hotbox in the world. Loved it all.
At one point I dropped my joint and while I was looking for it, all I could see were baggies all over the ground amongst the cans and plastic bottles. I still found it, though.
As soon as we got under the tent, it was so hot and sweaty. People were taking their tops off to cool down and everyone looked off their face wasted. I mean, I was one of them, but people’s jaws were going off and their eyes were rolling back, it was crazy.
We were tearing up a storm on the dancefloor during Schoolboy Q when I heard talking behind me like there was going to be a fight. The only fight we’d seen till then was on the way in when two girl friends were having a scrap.
Turns out the noise was because someone was hurt. I looked around and there was a crowd of people around this one guy. I didn’t realise how serious it was but then he was surrounded by cops. They couldn’t get him to move so then the medi-cab showed up and they got to work on him. Usually when stuff like that happens, drunk people are constantly being nosy and trying to see what’s happening, but this time felt heavy. Everyone kept their distance while the medics worked.
They were shoving some sort of tube down his throat and they were there for a while. Eventually they just picked him, still not moving, and put him on the cart and took him away. After that, there were a few more police officers hanging around the area but everything went back to normal pretty quick. And normal was everyone off their faces and raging out.
There were two guys who climbed up the poles and got on top of the tent. That’s pretty fucking high. They were running across it and the police were waiting on the ground for them to, I guess, drop off? But they just turned around and ran back to the middle. I have no idea how they eventually got down.
Compared to other festivals that are pretty mellow, this was a whole other level. It felt like everyone was on something. Not the same something, but something. It was like a massive house party rave in someone’s backyard, that’s how loose it felt. The energy stayed lit right until it ended at around 1am. Then they turned the lights on like it was a club and everyone was like oof. Nobody wants to be seen in that light. Everyone scattered so quick.
But I had the best time. We went in knowing it would be a loose party so getting your squad together is so important. That guy on the ground, where was his squad? I hope he’s all good.