Nile River festival attracts 3000

Press, 9 March 1982, Page 3

Nile River festival attracts 3000

Westport reporter “There will be another next year,” promised an elated manager of the Nile River Festival, Mr Greg Bell, yesterday as the carnival entered its third and final day. A sea of tents, motor vehicles, and friendly crowds led to the main stages nestled beneath imposing limestone bluffs rising a sheer 70 metres from the river bed. Warm sunny days and cool, clear nights provided a relaxed environment for the festival which has attracted more than 3000 people. Even the sandflies seemed to take a holiday. Sunday saw one of the most varied live concerts ever presented on the coast with performances from Kenny Ackroyd, Judas Cube, Threepenny Folly, and a high-energy display by Louie and the Hot Sticks, freaturing Paul Parkhouse on harmonica. A bizarre act involving masks by Matthew, a teacher from Christchurch, who accompanied his students to the festival, surprised the 1000 strong audience who at

first heckled his performance. However the crowd was quickly beguiled by the styL ish movement and clever satire which Matthew delivered. Poets and the Wizard from Christchurch also entertained with witty, eloquent rhymes and entertaining diatribes. Unfortunately the smaller soundshell was too close to the band pavilion and the spoken word was often drowned by 15,000 watts of screaming rock ’n’ roll. The hard work of keeping the show going 24 hours a day took its toll on the organisers and musicians, some of whom had been without sleep for two days. “Maybe there was a bit too much new wave on Saturday night,” said Mr Bell, “Also, we have had musicians arriving and not telling us they were here.” “Somehow there was always somebody to go on when an act finished,” said the stage manager, Mr Mike Lynch. There were no reports of crowd trouble during the week-end. “A detective and two undercover policemen visited the site yesterday,” said Mr Bell. “No illegal activity was discovered.” There was some excitement on Saturday afternoon when the Sun City Big Band was performing and a corner of the main stage began to collapse. As a mountain of speakers tottered precariously stage hands jacked up the broken section and put in a new pile while the band played on.