Heather du Plessis-Allan: Bring on more concerts at Eden Park

The submissions are open, you can now have your say on whether Eden Park should be allowed to have 12 concerts a year, which is double what they have at the moment. 

And from me, it is absolutely a ‘hell yes’.

Give them 12 concerts, it's a great place for a show. I've been to a few shows there now - Pink, Ed Sheeran, Billy Joel... and honestly, because of how good it was as a music venue, I struggle to imagine a time when Eden Park didn’t host music. It seemed so natural. But they only had their first concert, Six60, in 2021.

In the interests of transparency, I have to say for a couple of those concerts, I was there because Eden Park invited me. And I'm not naïve, I suspect they invited me so I could see what a great venue it was.

And it worked, because I was quite impressed with it.

Obviously, Eden Park isn't the only venue Auckland City's got, there's a whole bunch of them - and if you want to have a big open-air stadium concert, there's Mt Smart.

But I still reckon Eden Park beats it on a couple of fronts. For one, it's much easier to get to and from there than it is for Mt Smart.

For a big show, Mt Smart is a pain in the butt to get in and out of. With Eden Park, you can just walk out and you're in a bar in Ponsonby in 2.5ks.

Plus, there's capacity. Mt Smart can do about 40,000 people for a live show, Eden Park can apparently hold more than 50,000.

Obviously, that means more money for Auckland city, which is what I'm interested in.

The hotel occupancy for Pink was apparently 97 percent. That means people are bringing in their money from other places in the country and the region. There'll be even more money flowing in for Coldplay, cause they're only playing three shows in Auckland.

So far, Eden Park is doing good things for Auckland's economy - and just to underscore the place, think of the biggest events Auckland's had over the past wee while. We had Harry Styles, we had Pink, we had the FIFA Women's World Cup, and we're going to have Coldplay soon. 

Three of those were - or will be - held at Eden Park. After Coldplay, what's on Auckland's calendar for cool things to do? Outside of stuff like the tennis and SailGP, there's nothing.

So I'd argue we actually need Eden Park to have more concerts, cause it attracts the big stuff. And who would turn up the money that comes with it?

Plus, if we say yes to these extra concerts, maybe in a few years we’ll struggle to remember a time when we limited them to only six a year.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'd ever do for ce Ellen. So submissions are now open.
You can actually have your say on whether eden Park
should be allowed to double the number of concerts that
they have. At the moment they have six, they want
to be able to hold twelve, and from me, it's
absolutely a held yes, give them twelve concerts. It's a
great place to hold a show. I've been to a
few music shows there now, went to Billy Joel pink

(00:22):
Ed Sheeran, and honestly because of how good it was
as a music venue, I've struggled to remember a time
when eden Park wasn't a music venue. It just seems
really natural, like it always has been. But that's I mean,
it's not that long ago that we let absolutely no
concerts take place there. Twenty twenty one was the first
time they ever had a concert with six sixty. I

(00:42):
need to say at this point, obviously, in the interests
of transparency, that a couple of the shows I went to,
I was there because eden Park invited me, and I'm
not naive. I suspect that they invited me so that
I could see what a great venue it was, and
it worked because I was quite impressed with it. Now
Obviously it's not the only venue that Auckland City's got.
There are a bunch of them, and if you want
to have an open air stadium concert, obviously you have

(01:03):
Mount Smart. But I still reckon Eden Park beats on
a number of fronts. I mean, it's much easier to
get to and from eden Park than it is Mount Smart.
Mount Smart for a really really big show like a
Harry Styles. I went there for Harry Styles. Absolute pain
in the butt to get in and out of Eden Park.
You can just walk, just walk for two and a
half k's and you're in a bar in Pondsmby then

(01:25):
you've got the capacity thing. Mount Smart can do about
forty thousand people for a live show. Eden Park can
apparently do more than fifty thousand, which obviously means more
money for Auckland City, which is a bit that I'm
rarely interested in, specially given where we are with an
economy at the moment. The hotel occupancy for Pink, which
was the last big one at eden Park, was apparently
ninety seven percent. In Auckland. That people staying in hotels

(01:46):
represents people coming in from somewhere else, right, so they're
bringing their money from other places in the country in
the region. It'll be even more money flowing in for
cold Play later this year because they're only playing Auckland.
They're not playing anywhere else in the country, so if
you're in New Zealand you want to see them and
they're playing three shows. So actually, so far Eden Park

(02:06):
is doing good things for Auckland's economy and just to
underscore the value of the place, think of the biggest
events that we've had on Auckland's calendar in the last week.
While we had Harry Styles, we had Pink, we had
the fee for Women's World Cup, and we're going to
have cold Play soon. Three of those Pink, the Women's
World Cup and Coldplay, all of them at eden Park.
After Coldplay, what's on Auckland's calendar as cool things to

(02:28):
do outside of the regular stuff like the tennis Nothing,
there's sale GP and then there's nothing else. So I'd
argue we actually need Auckland Park to have some more
concerts because they attract the big stuff and who would
turn up the money that comes with it. For more
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(02:48):
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