It seems that every time you look around there's a new festival being announced.

From what I figure now you could probably attend a music festival every weekend from New Year's Eve through to Easter.

The National Jazz Festival unveiled its headline concert a couple of weeks back and immediately disturbed a hornet's nest of controversy.

It came after former festival director Colin Lunt rather publicly took exception to the choice of Earth Wind & Fire as the top act for the planned 50th Birthday Bash.

This is a five hour outdoor concert at the Domain which will also feature blues player Keb Mo and an as yet unspecified third international act.

This concert is indeed a big roll of the dice for festival planners Liam Ryan and Arne Herrmann. Tickets – early bird ones available until January 13 – cost either $90, $130 or $160. They are hoping to attract 5000-10,000 people.

Colin's objection has already been aired: that Earth Wind & Fire aren't enough of a jazz band to headline the festival.

I think the organisers can make a very good case for them to be there, but the issue will no doubt continue to be raised.

The bigger question is, of course, will people go?

I'm assuming that with a concert of this size there will be ample wet weather insurance so there isn't the risk of last year's rain-influenced loss reoccurring.

But every concert, every show, is a punt.

Organisers do their best to anticipate what an audience wants and then all they can do is plug the hell out of it and keep their fingers crossed.

The other question, and one that is impossible to answer until after the event, is what effect such a big concert will have on other aspects of the festival.

The hope, I assume, is that a show of this proportion will bring a significant number of extra people to Tauranga and those people will attend other events, therefore everyone benefits.

Of course those people could come to town and just do the big concert, leaving the other shows unaffected. Not really a problem.

But, worst case scenario, a significant number of people could just go to the Birthday Bash, ignoring other concerts they might otherwise attend because either their money or stamina will not spread any further.

Would that matter? I'm not sure.

I have no inside knowledge of the festival budget, but it seems to me that the 50th Birthday Bash must represent the majority of both expenses and possible income for the entire festival. It's going to be an interesting year…
My main interest in the programme, however, is the Kiwi aspect of the festival.

It's the National Jazz Festival after all and organisers are promising a cracker selection of New Zealand music to celebrate 50 years.

The full line-up will be announced on December 7 so we'll return to it in a couple of weeks.

There's also been the announcement today of a new festival in February which looks extremely exciting.
This is Summer Fest, an alcohol-free day of music and good vibes to take place on February 5.

The disappearance of the Blues Brews & BBQs event has left a spot which Creative Tauranga has been instrumental in filling, and they are pulling out all the stops for a celebration of summer and local music.

As well as food stalls, dance acts, carnival rides and x-sports demonstrations they, along with the team from the Mauao Performing Arts Centre, have put together a dynamite line-up of bands, all with Bay affiliations and spanning a huge range of styles.

There are more to be announced, but the current crop is Midnight Youth, Stan Walker, Aaron Saxon, The Deeds, Swamp Thing, Nine Mile Stone, Porina and Godsown, and Herm Dub.

I'd be surprised if any music lovers don't find at least one or two of those to their taste.

There'll be two stages and the day will also include the top three bands from the ‘Packing Heat' battle of the bands.
Best of all, tickets are family-friendly: adults $10, kids $5, a whole family $20 or $15 with a TECT Card. Come February 5, why would you not be there?