It will be one of only two live shows L.A.B are playing this summer; the other is Rotorua\u2019s 8th Wonder on January 23.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t sitting there thinking about stadiums or crowds this size,\u201d the Mr Reggae hitmaker tells the Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven now, there are moments when you walk out and look at everyone and think, how did we get here?\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel Shadbolt commanding the crowd. Photo \/ Lucy Hammond<\/p>\n
Shadbolt had a taste of the scale of Synthony, New Zealand\u2019s biggest one-day music festival, a few years ago, thanks to a chance encounter with Australian music producer CYRIL (Cyril Riley), who was performing at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cCYRIL originally sent us a remix he\u2019d done of [L.A.B song] In the Air, which he\u2019d been playing at his shows all over the world. We connected with him in Sydney and then happened to reconnect when he was back in New Zealand [for Synthony],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing was pretty spontaneous. We got together, jumped up and did it, and it was a really cool moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now ready to rock the stage with the full band, Shadbolt says they can\u2019t wait to enhance Synthony\u2019s production, \u201cespecially those massive screens\u201d, to create content specifically for the show. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us an opportunity to do something a bit different visually and really make the most of the scale of the production,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have all the songs people know, but we want to make this particular L.A.B set feel really special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel Shadbolt previously performed at Synthony with CYRIL. Photo \/ Sunflower Sessions<\/p>\n
He says the band are pretty relaxed backstage before big shows, having now been together for more than a decade. Normally, it\u2019s just, \u201chang out, have a laugh, and get ready\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are always a few nerves before a big one, but I think that\u2019s healthy. Once we\u2019re together and the first song starts, everything settles down, and we\u2019re into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moment he\u2019s most looking forward to is when he first catches a glimpse of the crowd. With a show as big as Synthony, he thinks the energy is going to be pretty special. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen there are those songs where the crowd basically takes over and sings them back to us. Those are probably my favourite moments because you can\u2019t manufacture that.\u201d<\/p>\n
What: M\u0101nuka Phuel Synthony Festival featuring Paul Oakenfold (UK), Poolside (US), L.A.B, Ladyhawke, Corrella and Synthony with Auckland Philharmonia.<\/p>\n
Where: Auckland Domain<\/p>\n
When: March 20, 2027<\/p>\n
Tickets: SYNTHONY.com<\/p>\n
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be one of only two live shows L.A.B are playing this summer; the other is Rotorua\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[18516,23503,3471,696,51,23930,242653,48948,156,5131,65792,4968,36446,278337,10938,17467,7189,62086,15143,440,1535,111,139,69,278336,17357,78677,6443,133549,2735,108041,6642,223,6923,102],"class_list":["post-565497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-18516","tag-acts","tag-among","tag-announced","tag-auckland","tag-band","tag-biggestever","tag-domain","tag-entertainment","tag-festival","tag-frontman","tag-gigs","tag-headline","tag-headliners","tag-herald","tag-joel","tag-lab","tag-legends","tag-lineup","tag-local","tag-march","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oakenfold","tag-paul","tag-poolside","tag-returns","tag-shadbolt","tag-store","tag-synthony","tag-tells","tag-the","tag-what","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}