Automatic 80s Live front man Justin Maclaren on the dark stage. Photo/Pitch Perfect Promotions
Mount Maunganui concert goers will be offered refunds or a rescheduled concert after a power cut left them in the dark on Saturday night.
Promoter Paul Farnan of Pitch Perfect Promotions said about 350 people - many dressed up in full 80s fashion - were seated at Totara St ready for the Automatic 80s Live show to begin when the lights went out.
"They were looking at a black stage."
About 3700 properties in Mount Maunganui were affected by the unplanned outage, Powerco reported.
Farnan said they waited as long as they could but with limited emergency lighting, they had to call the show off for health and safety reasons after an hour-and-a-half or so of waiting - which included some acoustic crowd singalongs.
"The power came back on about 20 minutes later," he said.
The gig has since been rescheduled for August 4 - same venue, same time.
Any ticket-holders not able to attend would be able to get a refund through the ticketing agent DASH, he said.
The Automatic 80s Live show promised an authentic 80s music experience featuring the "very best of early to mid-Eighties New Romantic and New Wave hits".
The group covers hits from performers such as Human League, Simple Minds, Duran Duran, Blondie, Culture Club, Kate Bush, Robert Palmer.
Performers include front man Justin Maclaren, backed by Pearl Runga (sister of Boh and Bic), drummer Jamie Lee, lead guitarist Danny McCrum (The Buskers) and bassist Clint Harris (Opshop/The Feelers).
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