The drive from Auckland had been long, but the constant rain had led to a reduction in traffic, which made the drive to Tauranga very pleasant. Heading into Totara St, the weather clearly had no plans on changing, luckily the venue had invested in some covers to protect the punters from being lashed by rain in the outer areas. A reasonable sized venue, with both a mezzanine and floor level, two stocked bars and a kitchen, the site was well prepared for the evenings festivities. It should also be mentioned how incredible it is that all profits from this show were going to the local Cancer Society. Doors opened early due to the large number of artists on the bill, and shortly after 6pm, the opening band took to the stage.

You know it is going to be a big night when the rock crowd legend, a.k.a. the dancing man, a.k.a. the Nambasa guy, a.k.a. Bazza, or simply Barry, is in attendance. So for this review I’m going to go ahead and add a 0-10 “Barry Dancing factor” score to each act, to help you visualise whether Barry was completely motionless (0), up to slow dancing with some fancy footwork (4), all the way up to Barry’s full “windmill” dance (10).

The final act was Apollo SteamTrain, who were billed last as drummer Les Robinson needed to fly in from Brisbane for the show. Ian Clark returned to the stage having already performed with The Eternal Sea, and lays some bass riffs down to get the night set started. Vocalist and guitarist Brendan McCarthy honestly looked out of practice, not to say he didn’t perform competently, but he looked tired and exhausted; when you’re performing at midnight, I guess that’s par for the course, but his co-musicians Black and Robinson looked much more alert and energetic. A by-the-numbers set, that didn’t really excite anyone, but much of the crowd had already vacated the venue. Finishing their set on a cover, they went with The Ramones 1978 hit, I Wanna Be Sedated. Well played, but the entire set really was out of place. A pity they weren’t able to perform earlier in the night. BARRY DANCING FACTOR: 6. It started off as a 10, but slowly dwindled as the set went on.