Marquee concert for Hastings in pandemic bounce-back

An outdoor concert for L.A.B, which had audiences totalling about 200,000 on an Australian tour two years ago. Photo / Reef Reid

Possibly the biggest marquee erected in Hawke's Bay will be used for a concert that has been transferred from the Pettigrew Green Arena because it's not big enough.

The Good Vibes winter tour concert scheduled for the Taradale sports stadium on July 25 will now be held under a marquee at Hawke's Bay Racing's Hastings racecourse.

The Pettigrew Green Arena, which opened in 2003, would have coped with about 2500 fans, and the move highlights concerns about indoor venues for bigger concerts in Hawke's Bay despite the history of the Mission Concert, with peak crowds of over 25,000, and outdoor gigs over the years at several other wineries, and Napier's McLean Park.

Next month's concert will feature a seven-act line-up of some of New Zealand's best-known and durable acts of the past 20-30 years, with a strong Kora-brothers influence and headlined by L.A.B, which played two shows at Black Barn, Havelock North in Hawke's Bay in October 2018.

They've since had meteoric success, being the publicly voted best live New Zealand act of 2019, and in March-April this year had the first New Zealand-produced No 1 hit in three years.

They will be supported by multi-generational legends Ardijah and Che Fu, 21st century leaders Katchafire, Sons of Zion, and Three Houses Down (with up-and-coming General Flyah), and rising star Victor J Sefu.

It will be the fourth concert of the Good Vibes North Island tour. The marquee will also be used in Rotorua and Mt Maunganui. Some other concerts will feature Kora, Stan Walker and Lomez Brown.

Promoters have managed to stick with the eight original dates despite the Covid-19 lockdown, which, however, resulted in the addition of Sons of Zion in place of Hawaii-based reggae artist Kolohe Kai.

The biggest marquee thought to have been used for a concert in New Zealand was a 7000sq m expansion, reaching 100m long by almost 200m wide, for a dance show attracting about 20,000 people to regular large-scale outdoor concert venue and Warriors rugby league home ground Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland last October.