Deafening blasts from the past at Rock2Wellington concert (+photos)

Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon surprised passengers at Queenstown Airport. Photo / Otago Daily Times

View photos of the concert

The Edge radio DJ Vaughan Smith attended Easter's Rock2Wellington gigs at the Cake Tin on Saturday and Sunday night.

Stepping through the ticket scanners and turnstiles was like stepping back to the 1980s. Ozzy Osbourne T-shirts were everywhere, there were men with huge Poison hair-dos and everyone was confirming they had the right words for Here We Go Again by Whitesnake.

A giant cheer seemed to indicate the first band was about to take the stage - but it was just the opening notes of AC/DC's Highway to Hell. When you get your Certificate in Bogan, knowing any AC/DC song from the first two notes is a must.

Poison was the first band on stage. Frontman and TV reality star Bret Michaels was very polite, thanking New Zealand after every song and taking the time to tell us all that the lead guitarist's name was CC. CC was orange. Fake tan orange, but he sure knew what to do with a guitar.

Musical highlights of their performance were Unskinny Bop and the lighter-igniting, romantic sing-along Every Rose Has Its Thorn.

Whitesnake took to the stage and automatically won the "Best Band Logo" of the festival with a white snake looping around a large W.

David Coverdale, lead singer and ex-member of Deep Purple, welcomed us with a "kia ora" and told us that the last time he was here, 32 years ago, he had nearly been arrested and sentenced to six months' jail. I think he was fibbing.

The band also managed the best sing-along of Rock2Wellington with Here We Go Again.

The Ozzy Osbourne experience began with a montage of Ozzy edited into scenes from popular shows and movies, including The Sopranos, Entourage, The Queen and Dancing with the Stars (during which he pulled Heather Mills-McCartney's leg off and threw it at her), proving Sharon was keeping him up to date with the MTV Generation.

Osbourne told us between songs that he couldn't hear us.

He said it so often I actually believe he couldn't - as many who attended the concert won't be able to for the next few days.

* Vaughan Smith is a DJ for The Edge radio station.