{"id":427871,"date":"2026-05-14T20:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/427871\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T20:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:49:08","slug":"te-kaha-stadium-to-get-a-soundcheck-with-major-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/427871\/","title":{"rendered":"Te Kaha stadium to get a soundcheck with major concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

After several sell-out Super Rugby games<\/a>, Christchurch\u2019s new stadium is transforming into a venue for its first major music concert.<\/p>\n

This weekend, 37,000 people will descend on the venue for the sold-out Once in a Lifetime concert, headlined by Kiwi acts Six60 and Synthony.<\/p>\n

Crews have been working around the clock, converting the 25,000-seat sports stadium into a concert arena complete with large-scale staging, additional food vendors, and temporary outdoor precincts to help cater for the crowd. <\/p>\n

Caroline Harvie-Teare, chief executive of Venues \u014ctautahi, said the event will test several systems for the first time \u2013 including crowd management, transport and acoustics.<\/p>\n

“This is an absolute transformation. We\u2019re going from a 25,000 capacity sports stadium to a 37,000 entertainment venue,” Harvie-Teare said.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s the first time a whole lot of things are being tested. It\u2019s our first true entertainment-style event.”<\/p>\n

Concert promoter Brent Eccles, who organised the gig, said it will be “cathartic” for the residents of Christchurch. <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s great for the city and great for the artists too. It is so exciting for everybody \u2013 the whole country seems to have been watching this. It\u2019s a full New Zealand production, a full New Zealand line-up. It couldn\u2019t be better.”<\/p>\n

The new turf will be fully covered with temporary tiles to protect the playing surface before concert-goers fill the field in their thousands. <\/p>\n

After the show, operations staff will perform a rapid transformation back into a sports stadium.<\/p>\n

Coryn Huddy, general manager operations at Venues \u014ctautahi, said loading in for the event had gone smoothly due to the stadium\u2019s roof.<\/a> <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s fantastic. It increases temperature. It\u2019s effectively a controlled environment. As these activities are all within the confines of the stadium from a scheduling perspective, it makes it a lot easier,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Venue managers will be monitoring noise levels closely, with sound monitors installed around the stadium perimeter to ensure the concert remained within consented limits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After several sell-out Super Rugby games, Christchurch\u2019s new stadium is transforming into a venue for its first major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[158,42,157,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-427871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-headlines","tag-music","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427871","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=427871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}