The wait is over, Arts Festival Dunedin is on and I'm excited.
The first to serve up a performance in the free festival taster in the Octagon yesterday was the Modern Maori Quartet.
The quartet includes former Dunedin resident Maaka Pohatu, who must have forewarned his Auckland-based bandmates how to dress for a spring day in Dunedin, the four men performing in winter jackets and sunglasses.
To lift a line from a song in their set list, everything was ka pai.
Next to perform was Circa acrobat Kat O'Keefe, who displayed blindfolded hand-balance skills to haunting cello music.
The Brisbane-based acrobat must have missed Pohatu's clothing memo and performed in brief apparel in weather as bracing as her grip.
Then Balkan Sounds from Serbia heated the crowd up with accordionist Jugoslav Hadzic playing his instrument with a heap of swagger.
Hadzic commented how much he had enjoyed Dunedin nights and the clarity of the constellations in the sky.
From today, Dunedin will start getting busier, with more than 200 performers and technicians set to arrive in the city in the next 10 days.
So buckle up for a roller-coaster of entertainment.
