What a show! Encore draws 35,000

By ABIGAIL CASPARI in Rotorua
A record crowd enjoyed an entertainment spectacular in Rotorua on Saturday night.

Of the nine annual lakeside concerts, Encore Lakeside 2005 drew the largest crowd, with 35,000 people ignoring threatening black clouds and heading for a night of music, fun and fireworks at the Village Green.

The rain stayed away until an hour after the concert.

Much of the concert paid tribute to its director, Sir Howard Morrison, and his 40-year career in show business.

He appeared relaxed on stage and spent a lot of time chatting with the artists and telling stories of the past.

One of the highlights of the evening was the Howard Morrison Quartet 2005, featuring not only Sir Howard but another entertainer from the original quartet Gerry Merito, who yodelled his way through one of the items.

After the show Mr Merito told The Daily Post that his efforts on stage were not as easy as they looked.

"It [yodelling] is something you should never do when you get to 60."

A big surprise and a big crowd pleaser was the appearance of Sir Howard's nephew, one of New Zealand's most respected actors Temuera Morrison.

Temuera, along with Howard Morrison junior, made up the rest of the new quartet.

Other memorable moments included performances by NZ Idol Ben Lummis.

Lummis didn't even get through a few lines of his New Zealand number one song They Can't Take That Away before the crowd went wild.

Russian-born Yulia Townsend, who has risen to stardom in a relatively short time, proved another hit with the crowd.

The 18-year-old joined Sir Howard for a popular rendition of The Prayer.

Others who made the top 10 of NZ Idol including Michael Murphy, Camillia Temple and Sela Mahe drew loud applause, especially from many of the young fans.

Singer Jackie Clarke, formerly of When the Cat's been Spayed, added a lot of humour to this year's show with the help of three of her friends Craig Muller, Olaf John and Keri Harpur who made up Abbalicious and then transformed themselves into the B52s.

Clarke and her ensemble, as well as the Yandell Sisters, Tom Sharplin and Rotorua's Rewa Ututaonga, sang several old favourites which had some of the audience up on their feet dancing in the aisles.

Everyone was having such a good time no-one complained the show went almost an hour over the programme's schedule.

This year's lakeside concert ended with one of the most spectacular and probably loudest fireworks displays with reports of it being heard from 10km out of the city.

Rotorua Lakeside Concert Charitable Trust chairman Ian Edward said he was delighted with the evening's success.

"How do you top that?

"It was a show that had everything.

"It was by far the biggest crowd we have had."

He said he had been advised by Rotorua police that there were no problems.

Event director Monty Morrison said the concert was a wonderful way to end the 19 days of the Spellbound Te Ihi Te Wehi 2005 Arts Festival.

See today's Daily Post for our Lakeside picture special