Opinion: What it was like to be a part of music history in Hawke's Bay

Six60 make history with the first-ever full concert at Napier's Iconic Mclean Park. Photo / Paul Taylor

Opinion

Here is a rundown if you weren't one of the 20,000-odd people at Six60's concert on the weekend.

Last weekend Six60 drew big crowds to Hawke's Bay with their Six60 Saturdays concert in Napier.

I was among the masses enjoying the band at McLean Park; the music was pumping, the crowds were dancing, and everyone seemed to be having a good time for the most part.

From 4.30pm onwards, there was a steady stream of people through the McLean Park gates until Six60 came on at 9pm.

Last year I attended the Six60 concert at Tomoana Showground in Hastings and I was interested to see how the show at Napier's McLean Park would compare; let's say it was pretty close.

Being on the grass at McLean Park was an experience in itself; usually only open to rugby games and cricket matches, this would be the first time it had ever held a full-sized concert.

The venue was set up perfectly - drinks at the back, food trucks off to one side, and the toilets on the other.

Not only that, the band had fitted their stage out with a structural 3D replica of their 660 flat on Dunedin's iconic Castle St.

The Six60 Saturdays concert at McLean Park in Napier drew in big crowds. Photo / Paul Taylor

Walking through the gates, you could feel it would be a good night.

At a 8.45pm one of the opening bands, Drax Project, finished their set and left the stage, and the countdown started as we all waited for Six60.

As the big red numbers on the big screens started to tick down, you could feel the crowd up front getting more and more amped.

Then as the countdown ended, lead singer Matiu Walters popped his head out the window of the house on stage, and the crowd went crazy.

Six60 sounded great live and had everyone dancing and singing along.

Towards the end of the night, a few scuffles happened towards the front of the crowd.

At one point, the band stopped to try and settle the crowd down a little bit.

After that, everything seemed to run smoothly, and what is a concert without a bit of pushing up the front?

The only thing I really have to complain about is the toilet situation.

It wasn't bad; however, it could have been laid out a bit better, and I would know as someone whose friends had to go every half hour.

Around 20,000 people showed up for Six60's Napier concert on the weekend. Photo / Paul Taylor

With only one entry and one exit close together, the toilets were placed in a spiral shape where everyone seemed stuck in a bottleneck and the entrance exit area.

Once you got through that, there were no real lines to indicate who was waiting for what loo, but as I said, it could have been worse.

Six60 at McLean Park may have just slightly won out to Six60 at the showgrounds last year.

The main decider was the accessibility of McLean Park compared to the Hastings Showgrounds.

It's crazy to think that Six60 made music history in Hawke's Bay over the weekend.

This New Zealand band seems to be breaking record after record, and although their Six60 Saturday gig in Napier wasn't a sell-out, it was pretty close.

Although not quite the first musicians to play at the iconic sports park, the Six60 gig was for sure the first full-sized concert ever at McLean Park and its biggest since Split Enz played in 1984 with around 20,000 people in attendance.

If you take anything from this article, it should be that Napier's McLean part is a perfect venue for big concerts and should definitely look into holding more in the future.