{"id":2021441,"date":"2025-09-14T17:29:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T17:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2021441"},"modified":"2025-09-14T17:29:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T17:29:41","slug":"nz-back-in-the-game-for-showstopper-events-music-promoter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/nz-back-in-the-game-for-showstopper-events-music-promoter\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ back in the game for ‘showstopper events’ – music promoter"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nFrontier Touring Company’s Brent Eccles. File photo. <\/span>
\nPhoto: supplied<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A veteran music promoter says New Zealand is back in the game for “showstopper events”, thanks to a $40 million funding package from the government.<\/p>\n

The coalition is fronting up<\/a> to $70m – which includes $45m of new funding – to stimulate the events and tourism sectors.<\/p>\n

It’s been welcomed by Frontier Touring Company’s Brent Eccles, who is already talking to his counterparts around the world to line up some big acts.<\/p>\n

“There’s a number of new contemporary artists that are playing stadiums around the world who would want to come to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

“Let’s pick one, say Sabrina Carpenter, for example, would be great to get here. She would do well in a stadium, but that would need help.”<\/p>\n

New Zealand’s ability to compete against bigger bidders – like Sydney and Melbourne – has fallen short in recent years, he said.<\/p>\n

Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Oasis and Billie Eilish are among the global acts that have bypassed New Zealand on worldwide tours.<\/p>\n

Eccles said the new funding would go a long way toward getting the country back in the game.<\/p>\n

“To be in the game, so to speak, we have to match up,” he said.<\/p>\n

“A fund like this is so good. To be able to talk to the agents who control the deals about what we can do in New Zealand, all of a sudden, New Zealand will come back on that circuit.”<\/p>\n

The government is investing $40m into attracting new international events from 2026, and $10m each into existing events, a regional tourism campaign and infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said it brought the country into line with Queensland and would allow New Zealand to compete with Australia for big-ticket events.<\/p>\n

\n\"Prime<\/p>\n

\nPrime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston. <\/span>
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Lucy Xia<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“This is going to be about more than just putting on great shows. We know big events deliver economic growth.<\/p>\n

“For example, if you think over three years, fourteen Auckland shows, which includes shows like Coldplay and Pearl Jam, generated $33.7m for the local economy with 490,000 attendees.<\/p>\n

“We want more action like that, and that’s why we’re stepping up with incentives to make it happen.”<\/p>\n

Home to the biggest venues in the country, Auckland is set to receive huge benefits from the new funding.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he wanted to see the super city pumping.<\/p>\n

“We want to flood this place with visitors, we want our hotel rooms chocka, we want to make sure there’s a lot of energy and positivity and buzz and momentum.”<\/p>\n

Former National leader, now Auckland Business Chamber boss, Simon Bridges, has been critical of the government’s efforts to stimulate the city and said the events funding was a great move.<\/p>\n

“What we’re seeing here is going to support the recovery that is happening in parts of New Zealand, but certainly not in major cities like Auckland.<\/p>\n

“The reality of a major event in a city like Auckland is the hospo, the cafes, the restaurants, the accommodation, the retail, it all goes better.”<\/p>\n

Hospitality New Zealand head of communications and advocacy Sam MacKinnon said cafes, bars and restaurants are excited to see more events.<\/p>\n

“The last couple of years have been quite difficult, trade-wise, for hospitality, but the bright spots in all of that have been major events, whether that be concerts, sporting events or anything that encourages people out of their homes.”<\/p>\n

Eccles said music fans could expect announcements on upcoming “showstopper” gigs in the next three months.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rnz.co.nz \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frontier Touring Company’s Brent Eccles. File photo. Photo: supplied A veteran music promoter says New Zealand is back in the game for “showstopper events”, thanks to a $40 million funding package from the government. The coalition is fronting up to $70m – which includes $45m of new funding – to stimulate the events and tourism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2021442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[21941,371579,21738,23522,371578,371576,371577],"class_list":["post-2021441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/NZ-back-in-the-game-for-showstopper-events-music.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}