Editorial: Concert a nice move from council

Jason Kerrison will play at the Sound Shell on St Patrick's Day. Photo File

St Patrick's Day in the Bay has been reinvigorated.

Saturday March 17, earlier known as Neil Diamond day - then tragically the day the music died - has now morphed into Napier Rocks Saturday.

In the wake of the Mission Concert failure Napier City Council and Hawke's Bay Tourism have come off the bench and filled a gaping hole in the concert calendar.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said council was stoked to swing into action.

"When the Mission Concert was cancelled we felt it was important that we, as a city, offer some entertainment to those visitors still travelling here for the weekend".

It's a welcome move from council and Hawke's Bay Tourism. No doubt the city has missed out on some funds due to the Diamond cancellation - so this is a nice way to maybe recoup some of that, but more importantly to fill a void that traditionally has locals in a beautiful summer haze.

And the ring-in acts aren't too shabby.

Jason Kerrison, Op Shop's frontman and one of this country's genuine good guys, is top billing while Shane Cortese and The 8-Track Band and local artists Mixtape will also feature.

To boot, Kerrison will be covering some Neil Diamond classics. "We decided we're going to do quite a few Neil Diamond songs because we think a lot of people would have been there to see him obviously," Kerrison said.

Nice work council for refusing to let a good crisis go to waste.