Six60 to play world’s largest concert since Covid
New Zealand band Six60 are set to play the world’s largest concert since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to 50,000 people next month.
The band will be the first act to play New Zealand’s largest stadium, Eden Park (50,000-capacity) in Auckland, on 24 April as part of their Six60 Saturdays tour.
In February this year, it was announced that the famous sporting stadium could host up to six concerts a year, following a five-day hearing in November in which residents’ concerns about potential noise and disruption were addressed.
Six60 were an active voice in the campaign to bring concerts to Eden Park and frontman Matiu Walters said in a statement: “It’s no secret that Six60 have wanted to play Eden Park for some time now. We always felt that it was important a kiwi band should play the first show at our national stadium.
“We always felt that it was important a kiwi band should play the first show at our national stadium”
“Because of the hard work that New Zealand has done as a community we’re in the privileged position to be able to perform to an audience of this size. It’s a great reward, we’re stoked that it’s become a reality and it’s a real honour to bring our show to the garden of Eden. We can’t wait.”
The Eden Park concert will be the seventh date of Six60 Saturdays, which is the only stadium tour in the world to go ahead during the pandemic so far.
In January, the band delivered the biggest headline show in New Zealand since the pandemic began to an estimated 20,000 people at Waitangi Sports Grounds in Paihia.
The tour has also made stops in Hastings, New Plymouth, Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton.
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NZ: 20,000 attend biggest concert since lockdown
An estimated 20,000 people attended a concert by homegrown heroes Six60 at a sports stadium in Paihia, New Zealand, on Saturday 16 January.
The show – touted as the biggest headline show in New Zealand since the pandemic began – follows successful editions of multi-day festivals Rhythm & Vines and Rhythm & Alps (also headlined by Six60), which attracted crowds of 20,000 and 10,000, respectively, in the run-up to new year’s eve.
The New Zealand live music market has been open for business since last summer, when prime minister Jacinda Ardern axed all remaining capacity limits. The island nation’s Covid-19 alert level is currently at one, indicating the virus is contained bar sporadic, isolated flare-ups. In tier one, face coverings are mandatory and citizens are expect to carry a ‘Covid kit’, though no social distancing is necessary.
Saturday’s concert, at Waitangi Sports Grounds in Paihia, was the first date of a six-show domestic tour, Six60 Saturdays, which now moves on to Hastings, New Plymouth, Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton.
“We are so lucky in New Zealand to be able to have shows”
In a statement, the band say a “20,000-strong crowd” attended “the first sold-out show of the Six60 Saturdays tour”, adding: “We seriously can’t wait to do it all again for five more epic outdoor shows.”
In a review of the show, Stuff described a celebratory atmosphere at Waitangi, featuring “enthusiastic sing-a-longs” and a “meaty encore” featuring a guest appearance by Drax Project.
According to the band’s label, Massive Entertainment, Six60 expect to play to a capacity crowd of 20,000 at Hastings’ Showgrounds Hawke’s Bay this Saturday, where support will come from an all-domestic line-up of Shapeshifter, Kings, Maimoa and Nouri.
Speaking to Hawke’s Bay Today, Brent Eccles of promoter Eccles Entertainment predicted the Six60 event would be the biggest show in the world that night. “We are so lucky in New Zealand to be able to have shows,” he commented.
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