Sweetwaters "81

As I get older I have come to realise that many of the great times I have had both in broadcasting and with my many mates are becoming a distant memory. I realised this when I was in the middle of moving recently and decided to sort out my sheet music. There amongst my Doobie Brothers, Eagles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young etc were a few treasures. Programmes from concerts and other events that I had squirrelled away so long ago I forgot they existed.

One of these little treasures is an immaculate copy of the Sweetwaters "81 Festival held in Ngarawahia New Zealand. As I browsed through it, not only did I have a hazy recall of a fine weekend back in January '81, but a host of other memories came flooding back. The kiwi bands! What an era. I had only arrived in New Zealand a few months earlier to discover some of the best music in the world was coming from this small island nation. Bands like Split Enz and Misex had already cracked it across the Tasman, but there were dozens of other amazing acts that displayed a fresh, pioneering sound that was unmistakingly Kiwi. Bands like Coup d'Etat, Dave McArtney's Pink Flamingos, Pop Mechanix, The Screeming Meemees, The Tigers (who later evolved into the Warratahs - one of the finest country bands I have ever seen), The Crocodiles, Midge Marsden, Hammond Gamble, The Flying Doctors, Herbs, Blam Blam Blam and The Mockers.

They were all at Sweetwaters '81, along with Cold Chisel, Roxy Music, INXS, the Reels, Icehouse, Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons. If you were there, you like I probably can't remember much, except it was great!