SWEET WATERS 4

Rip It Up, Issue 64, 1 November 1982, Page 32

SWEET WATERS 4

Duncan Campbell

The fourth Sweetwaters festival will be staged over Auckland's Anniversary Weekend of 1983 on the permanent site at Pukekawa, just south of Auckland. Organisers are promising an even bigger event, with up to seven international acts appearing, apart from the Australians. People who attended this year's festival will have vivid memories of the discomfort, mainly due to teething troubles associated with breaking in the new site. Dust was everywhere, toilets were unpleasant and the showers seldom functioned. "I think the dust problems arose primarily from the amount of construction we had to do," says Daniel Keighley, still in charge and bearing up remarkably well. "We had vehicles over the lower flat areas right up to the day that people arrived and all the grass was wiped out. That situation doesn't exist this year and the primary facilities are still there and the grass has grown again."

More toilets have been built and the showers this time will be running 24 hours a day. The pump that ran them packed up last time when it became blocked with sludge. It's been repositioned, so there'll be no excuse for staying dirty.

The organisers now have permission from the Raglan County Council to run three more festivals on the site. Keighley says the media overplayed the objections of local residents. Only 11 objections were lodged, five of them from locals. A trespass com-

plaint should be overcome by improved fencing. Those who've been to Sweetwaters before will be familiar with the entertainment available. The main stage will have bands running continuously and may even show movies if the logistics can be worked out. The smaller Aerial Railway stage will play a more prominent role and some of the bigger attractions may perform there in different settings. There's a circus for the kids, a Space Invaders parlour, open 24 hours a day, the food and craft areas and the meditation area, for those who want to get away from it all. A new attraction is the Sweetwaters Cabaret, which is being organised by a separate group. It features different acts in a more intimate setting (it'll have its own tent auditorium) and will run when the main entertainments have closed down for all those insomniacs. Another problem this year was with the main sound system. The music didn't carry too well to some parts of the ampitheatre and more long-throw horns have been added to the PA. Experience with the shape of the ampitheatre will also determine better sound mixing. A big grumble from performers and audience alike was the lack of prime time for local bands. Acts

like Blam Blam Blam were given very late spots and very short sets, while overseas bands got preferential treatment. Keighley says he's especially sorry about what happened to the Blams and the situation will be different next year. "In previous years, the nighttime has always been the prime time for viewing the main stage acts. I want to change that this time and create an international spot in the afternoon. This will enable people to attend the main stage during the day and still have something of maximum' importance to view. "Each year we've staged the festival, we've had a particular direction in music that has been a little too specific, if you like. Next year there will be a very intense new wave angle, but there will also be an international heavy metal act, along with blues and jazz performers, something we've never had before. So irrespective of your own musical direction, you'll see top-line acts you've never seen before, unless you've ventured outside New Zealand." Tickets this year were S3O and Keighley says the price next year won't be too much higher. Out with the sleeping bags and the chilly bins once again...