Blast from the past
Kiwi icons ready to rock
There will be plenty of blasts from the past when the inaugural Selwyn Sounds concert takes place early next year.
Mi-Sex, Dragon, the Jordan Luck Band, Sharon O’Neill, Annie Crummer, Margaret Urlich, Debbie Harwood and Jason Kerrison are just some of the artists confirmed for the nine-hour concert scheduled for the Lincoln Domain on Saturday, March 4.
Event producer David Parlane says he expects the ‘‘outstanding lineup’’ to be ‘‘the talk of the village’’.
‘‘We all remember what we were doing when these artists first came onto the music scene in New Zealand and to have them perform all these years later with new material, as well as old, is an honour for the town. The lineup has something for everyone and we look forward to an incredible first-year event.’’
A member of Mi-Sex since they were formed almost 40 years ago, Invercargill-born, now Australianbased songwriter-keyboardist Murray Burns says the band jumped at the chance to return to the Canterbury region after a successful visit as part of their Clash of the Titans tour with Dragon and The Angels earlier this year.
‘‘New Zealand offers a new lease of life for us. Every opportunity we have to play to a crowd and remind them of who we were and who we are now is very special,’’ Burns says of the Kiwi band who had Top 10 hits with Computer Games and People more than 35 years ago.
As well as those classic songs, Mi-Sex will also have a selection of new material by then with their new album, Not From Here (their first in 33 years), scheduled for release on September 9.
He says he’s also looking forward to seeing Jordan Luck play at Selwyn Sounds. ‘‘We came to Australia in 1978 and his career took off after that. My friends have always been raving about The Exponents and Jordan Luck, so I’m very keen to see him in action.’’
With plenty of contemporaries and old friends amongst the various performers (especially their recent touring mates Dragon), can we expect some onstage collaboration during the day?
‘‘Well these shows create relationships with people and, if you have a click, anything can happen in terms of songwriting and performing,’’ Burns says, before adding that they’ve been getting up onstage regularly with The Angels during the two bands’ recent ‘‘weekends’’ tour of Australia.
‘‘We’ve been having a blast. On Sunday night, there were 13 of us on stage together. I don’t know what it felt like out front, but it was a hoot for us.’’ ❚ Selwyn Sounds, Lincoln Domain, 11.30am to 8.30pm, March 4, 2017.Tickets go on sale to the public on Thursday via Ticketek.