Making music, all night long

1.00pm - By JULIET ROWAN

Isabella Waru waited 23 hours to see her hip-hop heroes Adeaze at National Anthem, a 24-hour music marathon in the four main centres at the weekend, but the wait was worth every second.

"They make me melt," said the Manurewa 18-year-old, who was one of about 100 people last night watching the final performances at St James Theatre in Auckland.

Miss Waru said the fundraising marathon, which began on Saturday at 7pm and screened on TV2, had been awesome.

"You don't realise how great New Zealand talent is until you have free concerts like this," she said.

Miss Waru had had food brought to her by friends, but had not left the venue once.

National Anthem, which was organised by the Play It Strange Charitable Trust and ended New Zealand Music Month, featured 121 bands and raised $147,626 for music programmes in schools.

Trust chief executive Mike Chunn said the money would provide a great kickstart for young music talent.

It would be used for songwriting programmes and initiatives such as the Ukulele Orchestra, a programme for students in years 7, 8 and 9.

"We will put every penny of it to wonderful use," he said.

Nesian Mystik, Brooke Fraser, King Kapisi, OMC and Decepticonz were among the groups performing in Auckland. NZ Idol host Dominic Bowden was Mc.

In Wellington, the line-up at TVNZ's Avalon Studios included Pacifier, Rhombus and Fur Patrol, while The Bats and Goldenhorse were among those playing at the Canterbury University student union.

Christchurch fans also got to see NZ Idol Ben Lummis and his runner-up Michael Murphy.

Dunedin featured some of the veterans in Kiwi rock, including The Verlaines, Chris Knox and The Chills.

Veteran artists also finished the evening in Auckland. Jordan Luck pulled out old Exponents favourites like Victoria and Why Does Love Do This to Me?, while Dave Dobbyn wowed the crowd on the keyboard.

Karl Bartlett, a 26-year-old event manager who had watched several hours of National Anthem on TV before coming to see the show's last hour at the St James, said it was good to see some of the older musicians "still around mixing it up with the young people".

He said it was also good to see music finally being given the same profile as sport in New Zealand and he hoped the event would happen again next year.

Mike Chunn said that a rerun of the programme would be up to TVNZ.

HONOURS BOARD

National Anthem by the numbers:

Acts performing 121

Musicians and entourage 935

Television hosts 10

NZ Idol finalists 2

Acts starting with 'The' 19

Venues 4

Cost of entry to venues 0

Behind-the-scenes crew 500

Volunteer staff 66

Cameras 80

Flights on the day 200

NZ On Air funding $500,000

Oldest performer: Hawaiian steel guitarist Bill Sevisi (82).

Youngest performer: Mt Roskill intermediate ukulele player Shannen Lynn (11).