The organiser of a two-day hard rock concert held in Wellington over Easter has ended up $750,000 out of pocket.
Phil Sprey is the Wellington-based promoter of the Rock2Wgtn concert, which brought together a bogan fantasy lineup including Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper and 70s glam rock band Kiss.Six international acts played at the Westpac Stadium over two days at Easter.
Sprey today was remained philosophical after the event failed to make the modest profit he had hoped for, and instead left him with an estimated $750,000 loss.
Tickets initially went on sale for as much as $460 for the two days, but with slow ticket sales, heavily discounted offers of only $75 a day were made available, angering fans who had forked out the top price in advance.
Sprey told The Dominion Post he needed 54,000 people over the weekend to break even, 58,000 to make a profit, but ended up with only 50,000.
He blamed a range of contributing factors for the low turnout, including the "eerie emptiness" over Wellington during the weekend, mainly due to the Easter trading laws; too few accommodation options for people wanting to come into town for the concert; other competing events both locally and nationally; and a higher-than-expected cost of freight charges.
He said it was likely his next event, which was already in the planning, would not be held in Wellington.
Other venues nationwide were offering their facilities at 10 percent of the cost of the Wellington stadium.
