10 Years of Rhythm and Vines – Reflection

As Rhythm and Vines leads in to it's 10th Anniversary and with over 15,000 tickets already in the bin without even a hint of a lineup, Hamish Pinkham, one of the founders of New Zealand's largest music festival, struggles to not get a little nostalgic and takes us through those few days leading up to the first event.

10 years of R&V - where has it all gone?

Back in June 2003, 50c In da Club was number one hit, Reuben Thorne was the All Black captain and the term 'Flight of the Conchords' was a reference to the Air France Conchord taking it's last ever flight that month.

On a surprisingly mild Dunedin day after a legendary game of social footy (Mudshark's v Matadors) - Tom Gibson and I went down to our local Gardies for a beer and began brain storming about plans for a new years eve concert in Gisborne. A fortnight later we were on a plane to pitch our little idea to Dean Witters - the owner of Waiohika Estate. Who would have thought I would still be here today 10 years on?

We actually missed our flight to Gisborne that month. My band had been playing the night before at the Captain Cook Hotel, and Tom was suspiciously missing in action when we came to pick him up at 6am. Our driver (and future Marketing Manager) KB drove at a slow rate on the icy roads and we arrived considerably late for our red-eye to Wellington. Andrew generously rebooked our flight for later that morning and we made it to Gisborne (albeit slightly hungover) to present our vision to Dean Witters. He loved our idea, so a company was formed, bands were booked and a festival was born.

For the rest of the story and more tidbits that is all Rhythm and Vines, follow behindthevines.co.nz.