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Home / Entertainment

SoundBites: Hey Six60, don't forget your roots when you're world famous!

Kristin Macfarlane
By Kristin Macfarlane
Bay of Plenty Times·
26 Feb, 2019 04:00 PM4 mins to read

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Six60 made history as the first Kiwi band to sell out Western Springs Stadium. Photo / Getty Images
Six60 made history as the first Kiwi band to sell out Western Springs Stadium. Photo / Getty Images

Six60 made history as the first Kiwi band to sell out Western Springs Stadium. Photo / Getty Images

Imagine being an aspiring muso, watching some of your favourite artists perform in front of a massive crowd on a stage you dream of being on one day.

You can visualise it and you tell yourself that you will headline a show at New Zealand's biggest concert venue and stand exactly where they stand, sparking a hunger that cannot be satisfied until that dream is reality.

Watching Six60 achieve that goal in front of a sellout crowd of 50,000 people at Western Springs Stadium on Saturday night was incredible to witness and a moment that will go down in history.

It's a stage that has hosted musical legends such as Bob Marley, U2, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen - all of whom are names that will live on for years to come. While Kiwi musicians have performed as support acts at the iconic venue, none, before Saturday, had headlined their own show there.

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Six60 have now joined that list of world-renowned bands who have headlined at the Springs, not only making history as the first Kiwi band to do so but also the first Kiwi band to sell out the stadium.

Let's just take a minute to really let that sink in.

Though they tour internationally, Six60 is not a household name around the world. They have many Tui awards to their name but they don't have a Grammy or a Moon Man. Lorde does, but could she do what these lads did last weekend?

What this five-piece do have is a universal sound that is simple, soulful and instantly appealing. They have banger after banger. They have the instantly recognisable voice of frontman Matiu Walters whose effortless vocals, in my opinion, are among the best.

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And they have smarts, because let's be honest, being able to sell 50,000 tickets to one show is something music industry big wigs all around the world will want to know more about.

To put that number into perspective, that's just about everyone living in Nelson. It's also more than the 48,783 people who went to watch Bruno Mars' over four days when he performed to sold out crowds at Spark Arena last year.

No, it's not the biggest crowd Western Springs has seen - 55,000 people packed the stadium for Eminem's first New Zealand show in 2014, about the same numbers turned out for Guns n Roses and depending on which website you visit, David Bowie may hold the record for drawing crowds at the Springs.

But, what is not questionable is the fact that Six60 are trailblazers.

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As a Six60 fan, I love a live Six60 gig. As a music fan, I had to be at Saturday's record-breaking show to take in the whole atmosphere of that history-making performance. It was memorable for many reasons - the positive crowd singing along to every single song, the thought that went into executing the concert with its consideration of fans at the back and its element of surprise, and the visible gratitude the band had for everyone who turned out to help them reach such a milestone.

I'm confident this is just the beginning for the group. I'm also confident Australia will probably try to lay claim to them as soon as they're world famous - but luckily for us, Six60 don't forget their roots ... and this is forever.

PS: I tried really hard to get through that column without referencing Six60 song lyrics.

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