Napier Sound Shell gig goes up against Six60 in Hawke’s Bay

Napier City Council and promoters have announced a ticketed revival-acts Sound Shell concert which will clash with a Six60 concert in Hawke’s Bay early in the New Year.

Australian tribute band Killer Queen Experience are headed for the Napier Soundshell concert on February 8.

Booked for the Saturday afternoon of February 8 at the Sound Shell are an Australian tributes package billed as “New Zealand’s Ultimate Dance Festival”, drawing together Abba covers group Bjorn Again, Queen revivalists The Killer Queen Experience and an Elton John double, known as Lance Strauss’ Elton Jack.

The council says it’s the first ticketed concert at the Sound Shell in 40 years since Australian groups Cold Chisel and INXS faced the sea breeze in 1984, the City Showcase at the Sound Shell in 2010, which included some well-known bands, was a ticket event.

Promoted by Harvest Moon, headed by Rhythm and Vines architect Hamish Pinkham, of Napier, who promoted last April’s Tom Jones concert at Napier’s McLean Park, the event is expected to attract up to 2500 people, and the council hopes it will be the first of many at the Soundshell.

Meanwhile, on the same afternoon, Six60, who have twice played concerts with about 20,000 fans, at Hastings’ Tomoana Showgrounds and at McLean Park, Napier, will be doing a concert for up to 10,000 fans - at a paddock which has emerged near Puketapu from the silt of a Shed 530 Estate vineyard destroyed in Cyclone Gabrielle.

The council’s 2024-2025 foray with bigger-name acts starts this weekend with Kiwi act When the Cat’s Away doing a free show at the Soundshell this Saturday, following the Napier Christmas Parade, but also clashing with Christmas in the Park at the Mitre 10 Regional Sports Park, Hastings.

They also clash with a sold-out Shapeshifter concert at the Black Barn amphitheatre, the first of a near-weekly series at the vineyard near Havelock North, also including Drax Project on December 21, Dragon and Hello Sailor on January 4, and Black Seeds on January 18, and other vineyard concerts: the Timeless Summer Tour featuring Little River Band, Boy George, Bonny Tyler and Starship stopping at Church Road, Taradale, on January 12.

Napier City Council events manager Kevin Murphy said the Soundshell and Six60 concerts are “completely different markets” and he believes they can both run well on the same day. He said it gives the council the chance to “test-run” the Soundshell as a ticket venue, with viewing space extending on to the lower lawn and out towards the road, which will be closed to traffic.

Still missing is the next of the Mission Estate concerts which have led the way for vineyards concerts over the last 30 years. The last was the Robbie Williams double-show weekend at the start of November last year. There was no Mission event in 2024, and none has yet been announced for 2025.

Sound Shell concert tickets are available at Moshtix or endeavour.live/revival, while Six60 tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 41 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.