Glenn McConnell is a political reporter for Stuff, and a former music critic and reporter. He attended the Labour and National Party campaign launches in Auckland, and this is his gig review.
Labour Party Campaign Launch, Saturday, September 2. The Aotea Centre. Featuring comedian Oscar Kightley, musician Reb Fountain, and Chris Hipkins.
National Party Campaign Launch, Sunday, September 3. The Due Drop Centre. Featuring Christopher Luxon, his children, Nicola Willis, and cultural performance groups.
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National leader Christopher Luxon faced questions about his tax plan, the energy of his campaign launch, and Labour’s dental promise, after officially launching his campaign to be prime minister.
REVIEW: Christopher Luxon brought some stadium energy, announcing each and every National candidate like they’d do for players at an All Blacks test.
Meanwhile Labour’s Chris Hipkins evoked the mighty Warriors for a bit of energy, getting plenty of applause as he delivered an “Up the Wahs!” at the Aotea Centre.
The incumbent and would-be prime ministers’ use of sporting culture to bring a bit of entertainment to their political campaign events was smart. In the case of Labour, Hipkins made the comment to lighten the mood as security ushered conspiracy theory hecklers out of the crowd.
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National leader Christopher Luxon launched the party’s campaign in Auckland on Sunday.
And for National, they were making the most of one of their staffer’s pretty unique side hustle. One of Luxon’s PR guys, Jake O’Flaherty, works as a stadium announcer on the weekend. His voice is instantly recognisable from cricket tests and All Blacks’ matches.
Some National MPs, mainly Tama Potaka, rose to the occasion of walking into the arena like they were wrestlers being called to the ring.
But after a pretty long roll call, and long guard of honour for Luxon, there wasn’t much more to National’s campaign launch.
The music choice was inspired. Luxon walked into the Manukau events centre to the alt-rock track Day Is Gonna Come, from a pretty obscure American band, Royal Deluxe.
The track bore resemblance to the theme for hit drama Suits, Greenback Boogie, and later renditions of the iconic American Civil Rights song A Change Is Gonna Come.
The American-style political welcomes and the American music did give the entire campaign a bit of stateside feel. As Luxon’s children, William and Olivia, reminded the crowd – the former business leader has come to politics after spending many years abroad in the US and Canada.
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Reb Fountain played at Labour’s campaign launch in Auckland.
The day before, at the Aotea Centre in Auckland CBD, Silver Scroll winning musician Reb Fountain played Hipkins onto the stage.
Veteran Kiwi muso Don McGlashan had been set to perform, but fell ill at the “11th hour”, said MC comedian Oscar Kightley. So Reb performed his Mutton Birds track, another classic, Pulled Along By Love.
Forget about the politics of it all for a second – seeing Reb, an ever-growing star, bringing new life to a 90s hit was phenomenal. She is so, so good!
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National leader Christopher Luxon was welcomed by his children, William and Olivia, and deputy leader Nicola Willis.
Her performance, Kightley’s hosting and McGlashan’s lyrics gave the Labour campaign launch a very homely, very New Zealand feel.
It was very different from the ra-ra American-esque launch that National threw.
With that said, Labour’s attendees included about six hecklers that felt very un-Kiwi. It’s common for protesters in places like the US to try and shout down their opponents, but that’s just not the Kiwi way.
The live performance also gave Labour a lot more energy than National had. But National brought a slick video production.
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Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins welcomed by party faithful at the launch of the 2023 election campaign.
In the end, however, this is politics and an election should be about a battle of ideas.
Hipkins got the Labour crowd cheering with his promise to start rolling out free dental care, saying that by 2026 a Labour Government would pay the dentist bills for everyone aged under 30.
Luxon finished with a bit of a déjà vu speech, hitting on points around the economy, crime and Labour’s record of delivery, which he has been discussing for some time. The only new bit was his presentation of a “pledge card”, an old campaign marketing tool that Labour’s Helen Clark employed often. It’s hard to get excited about a postcard.
