THANK YOU!
Just wanted to say a huge thankyou to everyone who came in on Saturday and helped us make Record Store Day 2015 one of the greatest days in the store’s history!
We’ve never packed in quite so many people before, and those who made it down early got first crack at the limited edition 2015 RSD vinyl exclusives, before we kicked off a quite phenomenal instore lineup that featured Jesse Sheehan, Tami Neilson (with the brilliant accompaniment of Dave Khan on guitar and mandolin), and then, at midday, Neil Finn treated us to a selection of songs from his astonishing catalogue of solo, Crowded House and even Split Enz and Pajama Club tracks, plus his newly recorded and released cover of “Blue Smoke” – the first recording to see commercial vinyl release in NZ, and an apt way to commemorate RSD 2015. He was accompanied by Jesse Sheehan and local darling Lisa Tomlins, and even performed his timeless “Distant Sun” as a duet with Tami – amazing!
Then, at 2pm, a string quartet from Orchestra Wellington treated us to a selection of popular classics, encompassing tunes from Leonard Cohen, Lady Gaga and, best of all, a superb arrangement of Kraftwerk‘s “The Robots”.
What I think it is essential to emphasise here is the energy Slow Boat draws from the passion and enthusiasm of everyone involved – the act of being here, of being involved, tells us how much you love music, just as we do.
That’s why we’re here.
So, once more, a huge debt of gratitude to everyone who helped out and pitched in – too many to mention by name, but you know who you are. Special gratitude due, naturally, to our esteemed featured performers, Neil Finn and Tami Neilson, with their magical songs and wonderful voices, and for sharing their phenomenal talents with us all here out of the goodness of their hearts. Bless.
Meantime, there is still a little bit of RSD exclusive stuff here, plus some more titles which didn’t make it on time, like Anthonie Tonnon‘s album on vinyl, some Redeye releases (including Bob Dylan‘s “Basement Tapes”), plus a whole box of stuff from the good people at Rhythmethod, whose entire order was inexplicably returned to the US -we’ll be sure and let you know when it arrives.
So – cheers, everyone – we’ll do it all again, in some way, shape or form next year. Meantime, a couple of other very exciting things on the horizon – will let you know when we can…
With love and gratitude,
XX The Slow Boat Crew XX
