Dean Calvert, of Greenstone Entertainment Ltd Partnership, appeared before the committee in Queenstown last week after the police, Public Health South and the Queenstown Lakes District Council opposed the company’s application for a special licence for the January 21 event.
The primary issue was the amount of alcohol any person could buy at one time — one 750ml bottle of wine and four beers or ciders.
The agencies had said those amounts were more than five times the amount of alcohol recommended in a national guideline for events.
Agencies also had concerns about the organisers selling unopened cans of cider and beer until 2.30pm, believing that enabled concert-goers to "stockpile" and encouraged intoxication.
However, Mr Calvert contended the licence sought by the company was no different than for the previous six events and he believed opening cans of beer and cider at the point of sale from the outset did more to encourage intoxication.
Ultimately, the committee agreed with Mr Calvert and granted the company the licence as sought.
He told the Otago Daily Times yesterday he was pleased the committee had assessed the company’s application on its own merits and not subscribed to the one-rule-fits-all philosophy.
"It [the event] is in its seventh year, we are a very responsible and good operator, we understand everyone’s concerns, but we’ve got good management processes in place.
"At the end of the day, we’re trying to give people a good experience and that includes trying to be responsible in terms of our serves and making sure that people are behaving properly — we don’t want a few to spoil it for the lot.
"They’re actually there to have a really enjoyable day — we have got a 50-year-old mosh pit and we love that, we’re proud of that," Mr Calvert said.
The event features Icehouse, Alan Parsons Live Project and Bonnie Tyler.
