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

10 years of R&V - where has it all gone? Back in June 2003, 50c In da Club was number one hit, Reuben Thorn was the All Black capitan and the term 'Flight of the Concords' was a reference to the Air France Concord taking its 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 festival was born.

That initial festival went down as a memorable occasion for those who attended. But if weather gods had their way we wouldn't have got off the ground at all. It bucketed down for days before and it was impossible to try and set up the venue. The day before new years eve I remember Gibbo stomping around in the mud and rain trying to move pellets of beer, getting absolutely drenched. The rain was coming down so hard that we had to hide under the stage to take cover.

We trudged wearily back to Waiohika and sat around Dean Witter's kitchen table. 'We can't hold an event in this weather, we are going to have to pull the pin' he said. Tom and I looked at each other in dismay. We had car loads of friends arrived from all around the country, bunkering down waiting for the rain to stop. Months of preparation and planning had gone into this one day. It would have been a financial disaster if we had cancelled, along with ultimate humiliation after selling our vision for months.

\After much discussion and fine-tuning checking the weather report, we held our ground and eventually Dean agreed to roll with the weather. We arose the next day to an absolute blue-bird screamer of a day. Action began immediately. The local Lion's club were in shoveling dry bark over steaming puddles. Mum was beginning to put flower ups around the venue to pretty it up. My sister cleaned the BBQ and waited for the artists to arrive. Beer fridges were plugged in, sound gear was being unloaded and checked - we were all systems go.

Around 1800 people arrived that afternoon and the small crowd partied in the hot blue bird sun. It was two degrees of separation as people caught up from around NZ. School mates, Uni mates, family, friends, locals - all enjoying a unique musical experience called Rhythm and Vines. We knew we were on to something special and we still do, a reason why a dedicated team of event professionals have poured their blood sweat and tears into our little party over the last 10 years to get it to where it is today.

Now with 30,000 people, 3 days, 85 acts, 8,000 on site campers, 10 full time staff and 2000 site workers - to think missed flights and bad weather could have put a stop to all of this happening at all! 

Thanks for continuing to support our little concert, looking forward to celebrating it's 10 year birthday with you all