Build it and they will come

STAR CLUSTER: The Modern Maori Quartet is one of a cluster of stellar acts that will rock Gladstone Road from a stage under the Town Clock to celebrate Matariki, the Maori new year, next month. Picture supplied

Someone up there said ‘make it big', East Coast Music Ltd founder Tyna Keelan said of the Matariki concert planned for next month. And with a stellar line-up that grew to include Troy Kingi, Maisey Rika, Ria Hall, Rob Ruha, Modern Maori Quartet, The Witchdoctor, Angelique Te Rauna, Supreme Brother Sound, The Ashes, King Dynamite, and DJ Murdurah, big it will be.

“I started to ring around my mates in the industry and before you know it, the line-up grew and grew,” said Keelan.

Making the concert big included getting a big stage.

Keelan contacted the Rhythm and Vines music festival organisers and found them most supportive of the Matariki concert.

“I said ‘I need to make Gladstone Road rock, what have you got?' They said, ‘the garden stage'.”

The Rhythm and Vines garden stage opens onto a more intimate setting at the festival but is still a formidable stage. Matched with a JBL VerTec sound system, Gladstone Road will not only rock but is likely to want to leave town and change its name from that of a millionaire goose-duck.

“The artists I booked are very impressed,” Keelan said.

“Town is going to be going off with all the nannies jumping around.”

The Matariki 2020 concert under the Town Clock is a free event and will be held on July 12, midday-5pm.