Country Profile: New Zealand
Aotearoa/New Zealand is far-flung and moderately populated, yet the magnetism of top-tier touring is strong amongst locals. Any doubt about that ought to be dispelled by Coldplay’s 2024 Auckland shows: 170,000 tickets shifted and NZ$31.9m injected into the local economy.
It isn’t easy, though. “New Zealand is in a cost-of-living crisis, and people are stretched thin,” says Broken Record PR’s Heidi Ettema. Alcohol licensing rules, visa constraints, and a musically ambivalent conservative government don’t help.
It’s fertile ground for well-resourced, well-connected international operators.
“The biggest change has been the explosion of arena-level touring coming to the market,” says Live Nation New Zealand MD Mark Kneebone. “Even in 2015, no one could have predicted that Spark Arena would have over 70 tours a year, but that’s the norm now.”
Live Nation Australia and New Zealand president Alex Klos says treating the two neighbouring markets as a combined route “makes the proposition more cost-effective and allows artists to play more shows.” Each country is…
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