Gin and friends are a real tonic on tour

I don't know about you, but there are few things I enjoy more than seeing hundreds of people waving their arms in the air, singing along to some great music.

It's even better when you are one of the said hundreds. And there's obviously many hundreds of other people in Northland who feel the same, if Sunday night's Classic Hits Winery Tour at the Tutukaka Marina is anything to go by.

It was a sold-out crowd of 2000 (and several hundred more taking to the cliffs above to get a bird's eye view), which was remarkable given all the activities on in the North this long Waitangi weekend and, with almost four hours of music, nobody can have left disappointed. (Though please write in and tell us if you weren't and why not.)

This was the third time the tour has hit Northland after Tim Finn, Bic Runga and Dave Dobbyn in 2010 and Brooke Fraser, Opshop and Midnight Youth last year.

But for me, Sunday's line-up of Gin Wigmore, the Mutton Birds and Avalanche City was the best, and most diverse, line-up yet and it turned into one of the best gigs Whangarei has seen in quite a few years.

Music, or at least good music, has the ability to cut down barriers and unite people. It doesn't matter your skin colour, sex or age, if it moves you, it moves you.

And the Winery Tour is probably the only place you can see pre-schoolers dancing with those in their 60s, in a serene setting, to such great music.

The Marina Reserve doesn't look like much more than an expanse of grass in front of the beautiful Tutukaka Marina for 364 days of the year, but for one day it is transformed into the perfect setting for an open air concert, ideal for sitting on the grass with a blanket and picnic, or imbibing a glass or three of the liquid refreshment that gives the tour its name.

Avalanche City, as the relative newcomers of the bunch, opened the gig up with the perfect set for a lazy afternoon - chilled, laid back and inspiring. They provided the first all-ages moshpit too when hit Love Love Love pounded out.

The Mutton Birds reformed after 10 years (and 20 since they first formed) to do the 16-date winery tour and there was probably nobody more pleased than myself.

I think Don McGlashan is one of the top three Kiwi songwriters, through Blam Blam Blam, the Front Lawn, Mutton Birds and his solo stuff, so I was looking forward to seeing them again after all this time.

It was basically a greatest hits package, with some of the band's finest moments - Dominion Rd, Anchor Me, (the Fourmyula's) Nature, The Heater - that warmed things up nicely for the main act.

Gin Wigmore is the hottest act in NZ at the moment, with her sassy style, superb songs and sumptuous voice - sort of like warm treacle, with bits of grit and venom - appealing to a wide cross-section of people.

And it showed. As soon as she hit the stage, the crowd surged forward en masse to partake in the good vibes and wonderful sound blasting out.

It's fair enough to say Gin is not for the faint hearted, and some mums and dads may have been a bit offended by some of her between-song banter while their kids were present - we're a family newspaper so can't repeat some of it here.

But when she sang, there were few not won over.

With only a couple of songs from her debut - I Do and These Roses - the majority of the hour-plus set was from her fantastic second album Gravel & Wine, which has revealed a far darker side to Gin that that sparkling debut.

Black Sheep, Man Like That, Kill of the Night and Devil in Me were belted out in a fashion more befitting a banshee with big lungs than a petite white girl from Auckland.

It was great and as hundreds of arms waved in the air, singing along in unison, me, the people I went with, and a couple of thousand more went home happy.

It was also a happy return to Tutukaka for Gin, she revealed to the crowd that the place brought back fond memories.