My Account
There could be more splash than stomp when the hot horns of Hopetoun Brown embark on an unusual tour in January, sailing between a series of gigs in a traditional wooden ketch.
Hopetoun Brown, plus friend and collaborator Finn Scholes, have decided to tour the islands and inlets of the Hauraki Gulf, and they will be dropping anchor locally to play dates on Kawau Island and in Leigh.
Bass clarinet and sax player Nick Atkinson was a professional sailor in a former life and it is his boat in which the trio will be touring. He’s dreamt of using the double-ended kauri yacht as an alternative tour bus since he sailed up the west coast of the North Island from Picton a couple of years ago.
“It’ll be a fun challenge getting the boys and their horns ashore in the ketch’s tiny dinghy for each show,” he says. “I’m also a little nervous about musicians falling out of the little tender on the trip back to the ketch after the concerts.”
While the ‘Round the Horn’ tour won’t be sailing quite as far as the southern tip of South America,
Atkinson says he’s slowly trying to convince his band mates to become the first stomping horn band to play Patagonia.
“But for now, we’ll just start with Rakino Island and take it from there,” he says.
Hopetoun’s odyssey begins with an acoustic concert at Rakino’s Community Hall on Tuesday, January 9 before they sail to Kawau to play a free gig at the Kawau Boating Club on Wednesday, January 10.
They will sail into Leigh Harbour on Friday, January 12 to play at the Sawmill Café that evening, then on Sunday, January 14 venture out to the Port Fitzroy Yacht Club on Great Barrier Island.
Atkinson says the island tour is a great chance for people to catch them at some intimate and unusual venues before they hit the major summer festivals, including WOMAD and Splore.
Tickets for the Leigh gig are available in advance for $20 from undertheradar.co.nz.
