Greenmeadows School’s Ukettes strum-up for Joe Walsh gig in Napier

At least three members of a Greenmeadows School group that performed a ukulele version of The Eagles rock anthem Hotel California for guitarist Joe Walsh in Napier nine years ago will be back for an encore when he makes a spiritual return next week.

School ukulele ensemble the Ukettes first honoured Walsh in a marae welcome at the EIT in March 2015 as Walsh returned to pay homage to the Otatara Pa site and te maunga Hikurangi where in 1989, overlooking Waiohiki, Tutaekuri River and Taradale, he had a “moment of clarity” in which he rethought life and kicked-for-touch debilitating drug addictions that threatened his career, family and life.

Greenmeadows School teacher Shona Milner and the ukulele group from which The Ukettes will emerge for Joe Walsh Sunday at Otarara Pa, near Taradale, on April 21. Photo / Warren Buckland.

He returns to Otatara Pa for the public event Joe Walsh Sunday on April 21 – now his fourth visit – having returned for the first time in 2004 – with the modern-era Ukettes on the bill with, possibly, the latest version of the Eagles famed 1977 hit.

Joe Walsh gets some air time with guitar in hand during a helicopter visit to Ocean Beach and Cape Kidnappers sanctuary flyover in 2015. Photo / NZME

In 2004 and 2015 he did acoustic versions of Desperado, and at Joe Walsh Sunday next week Hawke’s Bay expects to see more of the now 76-year-old Walsh before he returns to the big-concert scene with the Eagles on May 31, the first of five gigs in just over a week in Manchester, England.

Greenmeadows ukulele troupe tutor Shona Milner says 14 former pupils are returning to join the 2024 Ukettes, including three from 2015, and at least one now at university.

Joe Walsh sings Desperado at Otatara Pa in 2004. Photo / NZME

“The kids are pretty excited,” she said, conceding Hotel California comes from well before their time, and even that of their parents, although it has been one of the most enduring anthems of the 1970s, which include Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, which had another of its many revivals when a Christchurch school’s rock group and orchestra annual prizegiving-ceremony version four months ago went viral on the internet.

Ending his 2015 visit, Walsh promised to be back - possibly to live in such a lovely place.

Plans are now being put in place for next week’s event in the Ōtātara amphitheatre, with singer and former New Zealand Idol judge Frankie Stevens, Brannigan Kaa, Pereri King, and EIT music students confirmed for billing, alongside Joe Walsh, and The Ukettes.