Wellington concert promoter quits after 30 years following Govt decision to stay in red

Owner of Capital C: Concerts Phil Sprey has called it quits after 30 years. Photo / Sotheany Ream

Wellington's only concert promoter has called it quits after 30 years, blaming the government's lack of support for the events and entertainment sector.

Owner of Capital C: Concerts Phil Sprey announced today the business would be closing its doors and the brand would be retired.

He said the "final straw" was the government's decision yesterday to remain in the Red traffic light setting.

"The reason is all the lack of movement from government to help the hospitality entertainment industry through a very tough period," he said.

"And now the announcement that we're still in red, it doesn't make it very sensible to try to fight an uphill battle.

"You can't do deals with artists, you can't secure anything, you can't make the public feel confident that an event you might be arranging will actually go ahead."

Sprey said he had planned to pass the business on to his son when he retired.

"Instead of passing my business on to my eldest son, I had to make him redundant, unemployed and now can't even leave him anything more than a memory" Sprey said.

"Like others in the arts and entertainment industries we are considered by this government as expendable".

Operating for 30 years, Capital C: Concerts brought some of Wellington's biggest shows to the capital, including Elton John, Alice Cooper, Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osbourne.

Their history also included events such as the ethnic festival Go Dutch and the Dresses for Humanity exhibition of the late Princess Diana's dresses.

The company had specialised in major stadium-sized concerts until Covid-19, but said in the past two years they had nothing, "including no help from the Labour Government".

Sprey said it was now difficult to get insurance to cover big events, and many artists were not wanting to tour.

The economic uncertainty was another thing that had changed, and the "leisure dollar" was often one of the first things that disappeared when people were struggling.

"For those that are in the industry, I hope it gets back on track at some stage in the foreseeable future.

"All those things add up and it's going be some time before things go back to normality."

Sprey said they had written to the PM and multiple ministers, only receive an auto-response.

"There has been and still is no plan and then to top it off no assistance to keep the doors open. We have laid off all staff, cut back to the bone and have no reserves left."

Sprey thanked New Zealand for supporting Capital C: Concerts and urged the public to support live events when they returned.

"We've always been pretty loyal to Wellington and we've brought a lot of big events here over the years and hopefully left people with some good memories," he said.

"We'd like to really thank Wellington for supporting us in the past and let's hope everything gets back to some sort of normality in the not-too-distant future."