Claudelands Arena, Hamilton, September 17 2011. Featuring Shihad, Supergroove, Opshop and the Kids of 88.

The Waikato is set to rock on September 17. The weekend has two great international rugby games and on Saturday night there’s Kiwi Cream, a concert featuring Shihad, Supergroove, Opshop and the Kids of 88 and, that has just been confirmed as part of the Real New Zealand Festival.

Kiwi Cream producer, Pete Rainey says he still can’t quite believe the line up for the concert, which he says will make the weekend a huge one for Hamilton.

“This is a showcase of contemporary New Zealand music that is going to cap off a really spirited weekend,” he said. “These are bands with impact and stature that will demonstrate, in one four hour concert, exactly what contemporary kiwi music is all about.”

Rainey describes Shihad and Supergroove as ‘Kiwi rock royalty’. 

“These two bands have made their mark on the New Zealand music scene and have enhanced our reputation for creativity overseas; Opshop is one of New Zealand’s best loved bands, who’ve produced a constant stream of massive hits and two multi-platinum albums, while Kids of 88 are on a rising a wave of popularity that’s fast spreading to Europe and the USA.”

Kiwi Cream will be staged in the new 5000 seat Claudelands Arena, New Zealand’s newest, purpose-built music venue.

The show starts at 7.pm, following the national Smokefreerockquest final, which runs from 4pm to 6pm on the same day. The top bands from the prestigious nationwide youth music contest will play guest spots during band changeover at Kiwi Cream.

The weekend of rugby has accommodation already heavily booked, with fans keen to see the Wales vs Samoa and All Blacks vs Japan games. Tickets for Kiwi Cream are on sale from July 18 at Ticketek.

Details of the four bands to play at Kiwi Cream

Shihad

Formed in 1988 by high school chums Tom Larkin and Jon Toogood, Shihad began playing in their hometown of Wellington, New Zealand, rapidly becoming one of the cities most popular acts.

It's often been said that you can't please everyone in this world, but over the last 23 years, Shihad have pleased a great many. Over that time, Shihad have chalked up several enviable milestones - they've toured the world, supported their musical heroes AC/DC, had three #1 albums and gained the record for the most Top40 Single Chart appearances for a New Zealand artist. 

Supergroove

Described as a volatile concoction of soul, rap and funk combined with a highly extroverted stage performance, Supergroove are a visual and aural explosion that leave all who have seen them ecstatic. Supergroove were well ahead of their time. They revolutionised local modern rock and were one of the first New Zealand bands to fuse hip-hop and rock with a horn section, creating a sound unheard before. Bursting on to the Auckland live scene in the early 90s, their debut album Traction was released in 1994. The group disbanded in 1997 but reformed in 2007 and have been delighting their fans since then with a sound that is still unique.

Opshop

Over the past seven years, Auckland based four-piece Opshop has become one of New Zealand's best-loved bands, crafting a constant stream of massive hits and two multi platinum albums, You Are Here and Second Hand Planet.

It seems an age now since Opshop found mainstream fame with singles such as No Ordinary Thing, Secrets, Levitate, and Saturated, all popular singles from the You Are Here Album, released in 2004. The band members are Jason Kerrison, vocals/gat: 
Matt Treacy, guitars; 
Bobby Kennedy, drums; 
Clint Harris, bass.

The Kids of 88

Jordan Arts on synths and Sam McCarthy on vocals make up the Kids of 88, an electro-new wave duo based in Auckland. In 2009 their debut single ‘My House’ went platinum, last year they signed a worldwide record to Sony Music, their album Sugarpills was released in August spawning two more hit singles, they staged three sell out shows at CMJ Festival in New York, and in December they headed to Europe as main support for US #1 singer Ke$ha and this year were back in the states for the SXSW festival in Austin before embarking on a US tour.