Show goes on after death of much-loved events chief

G-Taranaki will go ahead this August, despite the death of event manager Garry Sharpe-Young, the New Plymouth District Council and the festival's American promoter confirmed yesterday.

Speculation the festival will be headlined by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash remains unconfirmed, however.

Mr Sharpe-Young, the man who brought famous acts including Sir Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Jack Johnson and Joe Satriani to Taranaki died suddenly of an aneurism on Friday.

Yesterday, Senior Sergeant Robbie O'Keefe confirmed his death had been referred to the coroner, but it was believed to have been caused by a medical condition.

A service is being held for Mr Sharpe-Young at the Bowl of Brooklands at 2pm today, followed by a private cremation.

His death sent ripples of shock around the region and raised inevitable questions about the future of Taranaki's growing reputation as an events host.

Mr Sharpe-Young can't be replaced, council general manager customer services Cathy Thurston said, but she moved to assure people his legacy would live on.

"There's nobody who can replace Garry. We will have to do it differently in the future.

"But how we do that, at this stage I'm not sure," she said.

"We're really committed to the fact he's raised the bar and we've got to keep that bar up there."

The first step towards that is confirmation G-Taranaki would be going ahead.

American concert promoter and manager Dan Allen, who helped bring the Elton John concerts to New Plymouth and Wellington in 2007, had flown to New Plymouth to work on the festival planning during Womad.

He arrived in New Zealand to the news of his friend and colleague's death. "My first thought was, `I'm going to get back on the plane and go home'," he said. But he didn't.

Instead, he said he would be going ahead full-blast with G-Taranaki. He hoped it was the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership with the council.

- © Fairfax NZ News