Second show for Robbie Williams after Mission Concert sells out within an hour

Robbie Williams appears to have added a second show at the Mission. Photo / Supplied

Robbie Williams is an even better man now.

The Mission Concert 2023 star became a Mission superstar 13 months before the event, a second concert being quickly confirmed after the first show, slated for November next year, sold out when tickets hit the market today.

He will now appear at the famed hillside vineyard venue on the outskirts of Taradale on both the Saturday of November 11 and the Sunday of November 12, 2023, with more than 33,000 tickets sold by early afternoon on.

Concert producer James Erskine, chairman of Australian promoter Sports and Entertainment Ltd, told Hawke's Bay Today the first concert of about 25,000 tickets had sold out, and by early afternoon more than 8500 tickets had sold for the second night out.

Few would have known of the new opportunity at the time they clicked to enter the cyberqueue waiting to purchase, he says.

Later revivals saw tickets for the second concert on sale, and it was soon afterwards that an announcement was made on the concert's Facebook page.

It's only the third time in the three decades that a Mission Concert has gone to a second showing, following the triumphant receptions for Sir Rod Stewart and Sir Elton John.

Stewart, who would have had a third visit to the Mission had it not been for the Covid-19 crisis, created the single-biggest interest, with the cyberqueue at one stage in the booking process for his concerts extending to 40,000. Today, there were at least 13,000 waiting at one stage.

Williams is an "amazing artist", says Erskine, quick to highlight his performance at the AFL ('Aussie Rules') final on Saturday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), in which Geelong beat Sydney Swans by 81 points.

"It would have been a fizzer without him," Erksine quipped.

The enduring interest and demand doesn't surprise Erskine, who says the Mission Concert has become the "Wimbledon" of winery concerts, possibly the biggest winery concert in the world, and when tickets go on sale it has a potential starting market of 180,000 – the number of registered Friends of the Mission Concert.

"I think it's got to the stage where if artists are going to be in this part of the world, they want to be at the Mission," he says.

It was first held in 1993, starring internationally renowned New Zealand Operatic diva Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, with the Willliams double-banger marking the 30th anniversary year, as well being part of his own 25th anniversary tour.