Toto singing one of their most popular hits, Africa.
REVIEW: A Summer's Day Live, brought by Neptune Entertainment ? Where: Bay Park, Mount Maunganui. Toto, Dragon and Jefferson Starship
"Are you old enough?" sings Kiwi band Dragon, opening a night of rock at A Summer's Day Live followed by American rock legends Jefferson Starship and Toto.
A fair question, given Dragon themselves formed more than 45 years ago.
Jefferson Starship, whose hits include We Built This City, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now and Sara, descended from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and 2016 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Jefferson Airplane, also clock up four decades in the business.
The Tauranga crowd included an eclectic mix of fans, from families with young children, to keen rockers of all ages enjoying the line-up of iconic hits to which everyone, whatever age, knew the words.
The bands rolled out bangers which lit the crowd. Dragon's April Sun in Cuba, Jefferson Starship's We Built This City, all had people singing along.
Toto's Rosanna and Hold The Line built up to the highlight of the night, the one everyone was waiting for, Africa.
The 1982 hit with its famed euphoric chorus, and those weird lyrics blessing the rains, has an anthem still played and loved by younger generations, and sampled or covered multiple times.
There's even an Instagram account of memes dedicated to the song.
Baypark was filled with people eager to see the bands perform. Photo / George Novak
Yet with more than 40 million records sold, the band, including guitarist Steve Lukather and Joseph Williams on vocals, is so much more than that one iconic hit, and the diverse set showcased their talent, with impressive guitar in particular from Lukather who over the years has been an in demand session musician, playing with big names such as Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Aretha Franklin,
But as the upbeat crowd made their way out of Baypark, it was Africa that people were still humming, singing, those drums still echoing, the lasting legacy of great music which you are never too old or young to love.
"It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you. There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do."
The concert series is heading to Church Road in Napier tonight (January 10), TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth on January 11 and Hagley Park in Christchurch on January 13
