Winston Watusi Music Plus

Looks like I jumped the gun last week; next week it might the shark, but last week it was the gun.

Omicron has not hit. Yet. Many things I predicted would be cancelled have in fact not been. Yet.

On the other hand, a bunch of things I didn't even know were things, events I'm pretty sure that neither you or I were aware of, are now not happening. It's a bit Zen really. If an event is cancelled in a forest, but nobody knew about it anyway, then was it really an event in the first place?

My mistake, I think, was in being what Arthur Daly would call 'a bit previous”. Rushing things a little. There are lessons to be learnt from these outbreaks and I completely ignored the main one: everything takes longer than you think.

The 24-hour news cycle is partly to blame. The machine needs feeding. The Omicron phase announcement readied us for the upcoming phases. We all snapped to attention – Phase 1! Then... well, nothing much really.

In a large part, since we're already in a red traffic light situation, pretty much the main new activity in Phase 1, assuming you have your booster sorted, is to watch the news to see when we move to Phase 2. Even then, there's not a lot to actually do except be even more careful than before and follow the guidelines when disease almost inevitably knocks upon your door.

But this isn't a lockdown and people are resilient. The Jam Factory - about as small a venue as we've got - is pressing on. Luckily it is summer. That is important because the venue has doors at the back which can be opened. They calculate that, despite distancing, with the deck taken into account you can seat 56 people.

Davey Beige

It's certainly not deterring local singer/songwriter Davey Beige, who is taking the plunge with a gig on February 18. He's rescheduled this show from last year, which actually works well because this week saw the release of his new single, Rise Above - the first offering from an EP of the same name due for release in April.

The EP reflects Davey's recent passion for electronic synths and drum machines. He collaborated on the music with legendary Hamilton producer and musician Zed Brookes. Over the past two years, undeterred by lockdown and other impediments, Zed and Davey shaped the songs by swapping music files, rough demos and computer tracks.

Davey says: 'The songs just kept on getting bigger and bigger as we added more guitars and electronic instrumentation... so at a certain point we just went with it.”

At the Jam Factory, Davey will also be highlighting songs from his previous two albums, which can be found on Spotify. He'll be accompanied by three top-class musicians: locals Regan Perry (guitar) and Nick Ririnui (drums), and Ben Wilcock on keyboards. There'll also be a support set from Nick Newman, formerly bandleader of DelPacifico and Nimbus

Davey Beige

Long term

However, my focus, I must say, is still on the longer term and still, obviously, Easter. I was rather staggered when the One Love Festival announced its cancellation dates. The first weekend in April.

Seriously? That's now eight weeks away. And, unless something really extreme happened between me writing and you reading, we haven't even got to Phase 2. Yet.

Now I know that something extraordinary happened with the Delta variant. We sorta managed to beat it. An expected deadly wave dissipated before the predicted tsunami crashed onto our shores. Can that happen again with Omicron?

Every expert tells us no, but then I didn't hear a single expert suggesting we would be able to dodge Delta.

If we don't avoid it then all the modelling suggests that after we hit Phase 2 this is going to peak in six to eight weeks. I don't want to seem negative about the prospects of the One Love Festival, but you do the maths.

And a mere two weeks after that: The Taranaki Country Festival; Rhythm and Vines; and, of course, The National Jazz Festival.