The rain finally came down last weekend, in a veritable deluge, and it caused chaos at many events around the country.

The Mission Estate concert was cancelled – a lucky escape, in my opinion, from having to listen to Lionel Richie – and in Auckland, for the first time ever, the Mission Bay Jazz and Blues Festival was postponed from Saturday till the Sunday.
Moving closer to home, the planned fundraising concert for Australian bushfire victims at the site of the Marchwood Blues Picnic was called off, and over the hill in Morrinsville the Harvest Food and Wine Festival had similar problems.
I mention this last event deliberately, as I'm a big fan of food and wine festivals. In fact I'm a big fan of food and wine in general, and the idea of getting an area's top restaurants and wineries to offer their wares in one place where you can graze and tipple to your heart's content is pretty bang on in my book. The fact that one can also listen to music while indulging the appetites so comprehensively is an added bonus.
And I see that the Tauranga Wine & Food Festival is coming up next weekend. Taking place again at the Wharepai Domain, it runs from midday till six o'clock on Sunday March 15.
This is a fine example of showing off local establishments. The restaurants and food producers represented are Amphora, Global Cuisine, Café Versailles, the Corner Stone Bethlehem, De Bier Haus, Deli on Devonport, the Sebel Trinity Wharf, Mount Eliza Cheese, and Mount Bistro. Yum!
And wine comes from Emeny Road, Bird Wines, Lake Chalice, Mills Reef, Thornbury, and Morton Estate, all winemakers with local connections. Yum yum!
Unfortunately, in my mind, the music component – not of course the main attraction at a food and wine festival – is just plain wrong.
There are a couple of (small) local acts on the bill, but the big promo push for the festival is the headliners: 'direct from Australia's Gold Coast especially for this event” The Bostocks and The Neil Diamond Superhits Show!
Now I've seen the Bostocks and the Neil Diamond tribute show. They're very competent. They were very popular. But why, at an event which showcases boutique local products - the best of Tauranga's food and wine - would you opt for some hack from Australia singing Neil Diamond songs? Surely it would be far more in keeping with the event, not to mention considerably cheaper, to feature the very best in Tauranga bands? (Which would also keep the money in Tauranga, a valid consideration in these harsh economic times.)
I have the same problem with the people who organise the Blues, Brews and BBQs events every year. They do a very good job but I'm continually baffled by their apparent reluctance to hire local bands. They would, it seems, prefer to pay more money (of course out of town bands charge more, because they have to travel to play at the event) to get bands from somewhere else that are no better than the local equivalent would be. I don't get it.
It's not that I have a problem with cover bands or tribute shows. Or with bands for events coming from out of town. Take the Mills Reef Stars Under The Stars concert. This is one of the best organised events I've seen. Promoter Craig Wilson really knows his audience, knows what they want, and has – after a few years now – got everything running like clockwork.
He doesn't use local acts much, because there aren't local acts that do what he wants. And what he – and the audience it would appear – want is classy tribute bands. That's where I saw the Bostocks and the Neil Diamond fella. This year he had a Mamas and Papas style sixties group, a Beatles show, and the ever-irritating Shane singing Rolling Stones songs. I thought they were, in order, bad, good, and kinda alarming. But it was a great night. People went away happy. Craig Wilson knows his crowd and delivers for them.
The Wine & Food Festival is different. It is an event that is all about local stuff. Or it should be. By comparison, the Morrinsville Harvest Festival featured Jackie Clarke, Midge Marsden and the Warratahs. They don't have a lot of local bands there, but at least they took a stab at the best of New Zealand.
watusi@thesun.co.nz