Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium prepares for comeback with L.A.B gig - first in 13 months

Saturday, 27 March 2021

Mate Ma'a Tonga fans take over Mt Smart Stadium (FIRST PUBLISHED ON MARCH 26, 2021).

A major stadium is preparing for its first concert in 13 months after suffering millions in losses because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

L.A.B will perform at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium on Saturday, providing some relief to the music and sports venue that lost 17 likely sell-out events due to lockdown restrictions.

Auckland Stadiums director James Parkinson said the “pure revenue impact” of the pandemic had been significant.

“It has been a tough, tough environment for the industry as a whole,” he said.

The stadium has lost 12 NRL games which has contributed to its financial woes, with the Warriors rugby league team forced to play in Australia due to travel restrictions.

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Sir Elton John performed at Mt Smart Stadium in February. This was the last concert held at the venue before the borders closed.

“There's no question that the here and now is difficult, and that's the reality across the event venue sector in New Zealand right now.”

The Warriors will be based in Australia until at least June. (File photo)

Mt Smart Stadium is a popular venue for international and domestic artists and can host up to 30,000 fans.

Parkinson said five music concerts had been lost to date at Mt Smart, inflicting a “significant hit” on the stadium's books, though he would not go into detail on the exact costs.

Parkinson says the stadium has been forced to be “more entrepreneurial” to survive in the dire events landscape. (File photo)

“The outlook in terms of discussions with promoters suggests there could be an uplift late this year, but more it's more likely to gain momentum in 2022.”

L.A.B, a New Zealand soul group, will be the first music act to play at the stadium since Sir Elton John in February 2020.

Reggae band L.A.B will be the first concert to be held at Mt Smart Stadium in 13 months when they take the stage on Saturday.

“We are extremely eager to get more product coming through, and L.A.B is going to be great in terms of having the opportunity to deliver a concert again at Mt Smart,” Parkinson said.

Mt Smart is also the home ground for the Warriors, New Zealand's rugby league team that competes in the NRL competition.

The team has been playing all its games in Australia due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Parkinson said the loss of 12 home games, or a season and a half of rugby, was huge given the public’s “innate attendance” to Warrior games.

“We’ve not had the Warriors play at Mt Smart since the end of the 2019 season, so it's been a long time since they've been at home,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ll have them back in July of this year, but that's the best case scenario we’re looking at. I've had discussions with the team, and they want to be back playing in front of their fans.”

Parkinson said the stadium had to be “more entrepreneurial” to survive the dire economic circumstances inflicted by Covid-19.

“Whilst we await the return of the more regular event content we continue to pursue revenue opportunities,” he said.

Clash of the Pacific Women’s Doubleheader is the largest event Mt Smart has held since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The event saw two rugby league fixtures between Tonga and Niue, and New Zealand and Samoa, in November 2020.

“We’ve also had a few of our own events including drive-in movies, which we’ve put on to maintain that engagement with our local community,” Parkinson said.

“[That was] also to provide some level of revenue in the absence of those big events.”

Mt Smart has been able to access funding relief through the Government’s wage subsidy, which Parkinson said has “helped soften the impact”.

But the music venue is now facing a new competitor, with hallowed sporting ground Eden Park, a 60,000 capacity stadium in central Auckland, gaining approval to host concerts in February after overcoming local opposition.

Parkinson said it was too early to determine exactly how that will affect promoters’ decisions.

“But we’ll be hosting anywhere between four and seven concerts at Mt Smart in a particularly busy year,” he said.

“With Eden Park now gaining consent to have up to six concerts in a year, there continues to be a need for other venues.”

Looking ahead, Parkinson said the establishment of a trans-Tasman bubble with Australia was important to Mt Smart’s future.

“Certainly in the first instance that trans-Tasman bubble is key,” he said.

“It's certainly not the complete solution, but it would be a significant milestone and provide a range of revenue and activity opportunities that don't exist for us as a venue now.”