There was a glitzy shine about central Dunedin last night as stars of the New Zealand music scene descended on the city like a flash mob for the 2017 Apra Silver Scroll Awards.
About 400 musicians from across the country were at the Dunedin Town Hall for the annual event which recognises the nation’s top songwriters and composers.Among them were "stalwarts" of New Zealand music Bic Runga and Kody Nielson, who were finalists in the Silver Scroll Award for their song Close Your Eyes.
Runga — as vibrant and youthful as ever — said it had been 20 years since she was first nominated for a Silver Scroll and she never tired of attending the high-profile awards.
But seeing the songwriting talent coming through each year was starting to make her feel "old", she said.
"You’ve got to appreciate being a finalist, especially because we’ve been around for so long. We shouldn’t really be here.
"We’re quite old compared to the other finalists."
At the opposite end of the scale were Apra Maioha Award winners Henry de Jong (17), Lewis de Jong and Ethan Trembath (both 15).
Despite being a heavy metal band, the Waipu-based lads (also known as Alien Weaponry) were dressed in clothes their parents appreciated . . . once.
Lewis looked dapper in his 1970s red polyester suit. It was so out of date, it was cool again, he said.
"I think it might be my dad’s, or a relative’s. But it’s mine now.
"Hopefully it looks just as classy as it did in the 1970s — a bit of up-cycling."
Perhaps the most experienced musicians at the awards were Hamish Kilgour, David Kilgour, Robert Scott and Peter Gutteridge of The Clean, who were inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
Before the award presentation, Hamish Kilgour said he was humbled by the honour.
He said Dunedin had helped make him the man he was today and he was grateful for it.
So much so, rather than eating with the rest of the stars during the dinner downstairs, he was wandering around upstairs with the media, offering them food from the tables below.
During the awards ceremony, tributes for the band flowed.
One was by film-maker Stuart Page, showing historic footage of the band performing around the globe.
It sent some of the band members on a trip down memory lane. But not everyone.
Much to the "knowing" audience’s delight, Mr Scott said he was struggling to remember some of it.
"Watching that video, that Raglan gig, I can’t remember a second of it. It looked really good."
