{"id":289328,"date":"2026-02-18T03:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289328\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T03:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T03:55:08","slug":"richard-obrien-leads-rocky-horror-celebration-as-riff-raff-statue-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289328\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard O\u2019Brien leads Rocky Horror celebration as Riff Raff statue returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

After days of rain threatened to dampen celebrations, O\u2019Brien credited the \u201cRocky Horror gods\u201d with holding off the weather, allowing the night to be \u201cwonderful\u201d.<\/p>\n

More than 50 years on, he was still \u201castonished\u201d to be celebrating the show\u2019s enduring success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no good theory as to why it should be the longest-running movie in history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What continued to \u201cwonder\u201d him most was how the show had evolved into a \u201crainbow community event\u201d, built on \u201cinclusion and kindness\u201d and welcoming to everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an additional loveliness,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a current of warmth and friendliness everywhere,\u201d O\u2019Brien said, describing the crowd as \u201cdelightful\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statue itself came about after a television feature of O\u2019Brien filmed in Hamilton. Local Mark Servian suggested immortalising O\u2019Brien as Riff Raff in bronze.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to argue with that, was I?\u201d O\u2019Brien said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do like bronze.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Rocky Horror Picture Show creator Richard O\u2019Brien unveils the Riff Raff statue for its third time in Hamilton. Photo \/ Mark Hamilton<\/p>\n

Servian, a Riff Raff Public Art Trust representative, described the night\u2019s atmosphere as \u201cvery joyful, very positive and very queer\u201d, adding the crowd was \u201cvery intergenerational\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statue was first unveiled in Embassy Park, on Victoria St, in 2004. <\/p>\n

Servian said O\u2019Brien worked as a barber on the site in the early 1960s, often daydreaming while cutting hair before heading next door to the Embassy Theatre to watch late-night double features, experiences that later shaped The Rocky Horror Picture Show.<\/p>\n

Riff Raff – the statue – left Embassy Park when it closed in October 2021 to allow construction of the Waikato Regional Theatre. It was unveiled for a second time outside Waikato Museum, where it remained from March 2022 to July 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last 18 months, he\u2019s been in hiding completely,\u201d Servian said.<\/p>\n

In January this year, the $80 million BNZ Theatre<\/a> opened, allowing the statue to return to its original home.<\/p>\n

He said the statue represented the core message of Rocky Horror of diversity, queerness and accepting people for who they are, summed up in the show\u2019s famous line: Don\u2019t dream it, be it.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Rocky Horror Picture Show creator Richard O\u2019Brien arrived by vintage limousine and walked the red carpet for the third unveiling of the Riff Raff statue. Photo \/ Mark Hamilton<\/p>\n

Another highlight of the night was the return of the hidden Riff Raff Cam.<\/p>\n

Installed beside the statue, the camera allows fans to watch live through the Riff Raff Statue website as visitors dance the Time Warp beneath statue.<\/p>\n

Servian said the camera had long been part of the statue\u2019s appeal, transforming it from something to simply look at into a playful, participatory experience.<\/p>\n

People ring friends and family from around the world and dance in front of it so they can watch live, he said.<\/p>\n

\"RichardRichard O\u2019Brien said the crowd at the Riff Raff statue unveiling was “a current of warmth”. Photo \/ Mark Hamilton<\/p>\n

Servian said the return of both the statue and the camera symbolised more than nostalgia, marking the revival of a cultural space that had been missing for several years. <\/p>\n

He said Riff Raff had become one of Hamilton\u2019s most recognisable pop-culture landmarks, with community feedback described as \u201cfantastic\u201d.<\/p>\n

People were glad to have the statue back on display.<\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After days of rain threatened to dampen celebrations, O\u2019Brien credited the \u201cRocky Horror gods\u201d with holding off the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[806,66046,9063,430,18089,156,6261,6288,410,16569,40097,22055,160612,1362,2064,111,139,69,96136,56820,1523,160611,6443,15160,160610,8730,3790,38291,3755,6382,104124,27627],"class_list":{"0":"post-289328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-carpet","10":"tag-celebration","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-dramatic","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-entrance","15":"tag-hamilton","16":"tag-horror","17":"tag-iconic","18":"tag-katikatis","19":"tag-leads","20":"tag-limousine","21":"tag-made","22":"tag-madness","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-obrien","27":"tag-onto","28":"tag-over","29":"tag-raff","30":"tag-returns","31":"tag-richard","32":"tag-riff","33":"tag-rocky","34":"tag-statue","35":"tag-stepping","36":"tag-third","37":"tag-took","38":"tag-unveiling","39":"tag-vintage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}