Rod concert wows promoters

Rod Stewart rocks Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Rod Stewart rocks Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Concert-goers and organisers are hailing Rod Stewart's Dunedin concert as an incredible success.

Reaction has been almost uniformly positive from among the 22,000 or so who converged on Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night.

Significantly, three of Australasia's top music promoters were impressed with the venue.

Dunedin Venues Management Ltd chief executive Terry Davies, who had previously helped organise concerts in Adelaide and Melbourne, said it was a fantastic night and an ''incredible'' boost for the stadium as a venue.

''We delivered that as well as any concert I have been involved in and I've been involved in AC/DC [and] Michael Jackson [concerts].''

Mr Davies spent the evening with promoters from Live Nation, Dainty Group and Frontier Touring, none of whom ''could fault anything for the night''.

''I think they were pleasantly surprised at the quality we delivered.''

Their experience on Saturday, combined with strong ticket sales, would boost the chances of more large acts coming to the stadium - with early talks under way regarding big acts for the first half of next year.

Mr Davies accepted there were a small number of people who had problems with the sound. DVML would listen to those people, so the next concert would be even better.

''We are in the business of trying to improve it every time we do a new show.''

Most concert goers commenting on the Otago Daily Times Facebook page were positive, with Tracey Mains saying it was ''without a doubt one of the best concerts I've been to''.

''Awesome seats, awesome sounds and Rod just rocked it!!!''

However, there were some complaints about the quality of sound in parts of the Speight's stand.

Dunedin City Council business development adviser Sophie Barker said the concert was ''extremely good'' for the city's economy.

''There were heaps of people out shopping and eating and spending money.

''It was just wonderful to see,'' she said.

It was difficult to put a figure on how much the concert boosted the city's economy, but she believed it would be in the ''millions''.

The experience people had at the stadium and the fine weather meant those who came from out of town would be more likely to come back to Dunedin for future events.

Hospitality Association of New Zealand Otago branch president Mark Scully, who owns Salt and Speight's Ale House, said both his establishments were packed from Friday onwards.

''I was out at St Clair most of Saturday and all of the bars were chocka doing brunch and lunch,'' Mr Scully said.

The demographic that went to the concert was ''the right crowd'' for the city as they had disposable income.

The three concerts booked at the stadium this year - Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond and Fleetwood Mac - would all be ''key trading periods'' for the hospitality industry, as there was no All Blacks test this season.

''This was a great start.''

A DVML spokeswoman confirmed with promoters Frontier Touring about 22,000 tickets were sold for Saturday's concert.

-vaughan.elder@odt.co.nz

 

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