The Sou'westers and several other acts from points south and west have breezed into the north-east and put on a fine show at the Summer Country Music Festival at Marsden Point.
The first one-day festival of its kind will be back and will become a feature of the Northland entertainment calendar, the organisers are promising.
The doors opened at 10am yesterday to a line-up of well-known folk, rock and traditional country flavoured music, the festival going on until late.
Headlining the evening were True Legends (featuring Gray Bartlett, Brendon Dugan and Jodi Vaughan), Suzanne Prentice and the Warratahs. They were joined by Larry Morris's Rebellion, the Sou'westers, Trevor Stevens' The Beasts, Toni Gibson, David Coleclough and The Hipshooters. Local talent included Co Lab, Scarlet Rose, Te Rina Kahle and Jill Kahika.
The Warratahs, stars of late 80s NZ music scene, came together for the event after not having worked as a group for some time.