KEY POINTS:
Helen Clark was about the only thing at the Labour Party conference opening that wasn't off key tonight.
Muso Chris Knox ("It's you that I love, it's you that I love") took two goes before finding the right key to the new song he has written for Labour -
"It's a Better Way With Labour."
It's pretty repetitive but pretty catchy. And you're going to hear a lot more of it in the year ahead. Labour will use it in campaign for sure.
The song is reproduced here and you can listen to it too:
We're a part of the Pacific
Independent, proud and free
And no power on Earth can tell us
What to do or who to be
For we know all must be equal
And - where not - we'll lend a hand
And if that makes us old-fashioned
That we care - well, understand:
It's a better way with Labour (x3)
Way better!
We're a part of one great family
That is several million strong
We're a multicoloured iwi
Where each singer has their song
Where good hard work will get you there
And knowledge is the way
To make this land a better place
For tomorrow and today
It's a better way with Labour (x3)
What you won't get on the recorded version are the backing vocals from tonight provided by the Grateful Red, among others, Mark Burton, Steve Maharey, Ruth Dyson, and Chris Trotter - who is running a workshop on the media at the conference.
Otaki MP Darren Hughes, or the Honourable Darren Hughes, since being made a junior minister on Wednesday, MC-ed tonight's opening. At the age of 29 he is already a Labour taonga for his wit, charm and red hair.
He said one of his mates has rung to ask if he was now the country's most powerful 'ginga' since his promotion.
"No," he told him. "That is still Heather Simpson."
He could not resist a political dig at the expense of the Chris Knox false start: "The wrong Key always leads to the worst song possible."
Helen Clark's speech tonight was just the warm-up. Her main one will be on Saturday afternoon.
She took the party back to its roots when it first came to power, and said the party was still committed to innovative, progressive policy.
She acknowledged though that she had had a "chilly winter" politically, the fourth in her eight years as Prime Minister.
What she means is four winters where Labour has trailed National for months at a time. In summary they were the so-called winter of discontent in 2000, the months following Don Brash's Orewa speech, the post-Budget tax blues of 2005 , and the popular support of John key's leadership.
More on Saturday.