But when it\u2019s simple organisational things that could have been done better that put a dampener on a good night, you can\u2019t help but wonder how it happens. <\/p>\n
When you\u2019ve paid a lot of money to see someone, you want to get your money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n
A drone view of Olivia Dean’s Western Springs Bowl concert. Photo \/ Auckland Stadiums<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been to Western Springs gigs before the recent upgrade, and they were epic performances. But there were some concert bugbears at the venue, too.<\/p>\n
At Guns N\u2019 Roses 2018, I waited 30 minutes for the bathroom (there weren\u2019t enough Portaloos), spent 45 minutes in line for an understaffed bar, and couldn\u2019t hear a single vocal from the stage (not sure if that was just Axl Rose\u2019s voice or the fault of the sound system.)<\/p>\n
At Six60, there was so much dust I was sneezing brown for a week after, and I can\u2019t ignore the fiasco getting out of the venue.<\/p>\n
Hopes were high when I saw the $2.5m announcement to upgrade Western Springs, with permanent features for concerts. <\/p>\n
British singer Olivia Dean was the \u201cguinea pig\u201d for night one of the Western Springs Bowl, with 45,000 people packing in to see her. <\/p>\n
I went along to check it out, and found a night that gave me the good, the bad, and the frustrating.<\/p>\n
The positives <\/p>\n
Sound<\/p>\n
Yes, the elephant in the room was the 40-minute delay mid-show due to a \u201ctechnical issue\u201d. People were left wondering what was going on, until someone came out and told the anxious crowd it was being fixed.<\/p>\n
Initially, people were quick to blame the venue, but it was later discovered the root cause of the issue was Dean\u2019s own technical set-up. <\/p>\n
The show ran 22 minutes late, past an 11pm noise curfew. It is unclear whether anyone will face fines, but Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has said the city should not make \u201ca drama out of an extra 22 minutes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Our view of the stage was uninterrupted. Photo \/ Mitchell Hageman<\/p>\n
Even before the hiccup, I thought the sound was superb, quite possibly some of the best I\u2019ve heard in an outdoor venue. <\/p>\n
We were on the terrace (middle section), and the speakers were well-positioned to give us that hallowed \u201cwall of sound\u201d that so many recalled of the 1983 David Bowie concert at the same venue. <\/p>\n
Dean and her opening act sounded crystal clear, the volume didn\u2019t require earplugs and even the music during the break from the speakers sounded okay.<\/p>\n
Sight lines (generally)<\/p>\n
I preface this by saying we arrived two hours early to get a good seat on the terrace. It meant we secured an unobstructed view. Others who came later weren\u2019t so lucky.<\/p>\n
The general design of the bowl means that, besides the speakers and sound booths, it\u2019s hard to get a bad view of the action on stage. Large screens were also great, especially for those up the back of the embankment.<\/p>\n
Food and drink<\/p>\n
A big tick from me here. I scoffed down a Roti Brothers pie, which I only waited 10 minutes for, and spent less than five minutes getting a drink. <\/p>\n
There were multiple food and drink \u201cvillages\u201d – one when you come in from the Great North Road entry and another just before the embankment – with plenty of seating and options from Tank Juice to kebabs and weiners.<\/p>\n
Staff were pleasant and great at refusing service to a man who had clearly had one too many.<\/p>\n
It was easy enough to get a drink this time around. Photo \/ Mitchell Hageman<\/p>\n
Help<\/p>\n
Medics had enough room to get to patients in need, and I saw plenty of security and venue assistance staff wandering the venue and answering questions. <\/p>\n
They even managed to catch a gate-crasher in record time.<\/p>\n
Toilets<\/p>\n
I used the facilities twice (once minutes before Dean took to the stage) and I waited in a queue of about three people for less than six minutes. <\/p>\n
There had to be hundreds of Portaloos scattered across the venue, as well as permanent toilets that have always been there.<\/p>\n
And, most importantly, I left with a clear nose! There were no dust clouds in sight thanks to grassing over the GA area.<\/p>\n
Food, drink and toilets had minimal wait times. Photo \/ Mitchell Hageman<\/p>\n
Room for improvement<\/p>\n
Getting around<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think any amount of money or upgrades can help the Western Springs Bowl fix these issues. <\/p>\n
Getting into the venue was fine, but getting around it and out of it was not.<\/p>\n
Those sitting or standing on the terrace were barred from returning through the entrance they came through after leaving the area, needing to go all the way to the other side of the stadium and trek through thousands of people to get back to their position.<\/p>\n
Eventually, security couldn\u2019t police this, and people were just finding a spare moment to sneak past them, but it felt like there was no proper plan to manage huge crowds.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people on the crowded embankment waiting for Olivia Dean. Photo \/ Mitchell Hageman<\/p>\n
This was also evident from conversations on the embankment, where people felt like they were forced to stand for the throngs of people to fit. While the 45,000-strong crowd was under the venue\u2019s 50,000 capacity, crowd management is something the venue and promoters should think about for future gigs.<\/p>\n
Transport<\/p>\n
Leaving was another mission. I was lucky, and my ride managed to park 20 minutes\u2019 walk away, but other fans told the Herald it was \u201cabsolute chaos\u201d trying to get to nearby train stations or further.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe walked to avoid some of the traffic and managed to get an overpriced Uber fairly quickly. The roads around Western Springs were certainly busy,\u201d one concertgoer said.<\/p>\n
Auckland Stadiums director James Parkinson said one of the implications of the show finishing later than planned because of the technical delay was that some scheduled public transport services had finished by the time the crowd left.<\/p>\n
In my opinion, with a gig that size, free transport and event buses are a must. I don\u2019t think the location, being on a main road, helps and planning will be needed to make it work better in the future.<\/p>\n
The re-entry point was on the far left, whereas the exit was just to my right on the terrace. Photo \/ Mitchell Hageman<\/p>\n
Cellphone coverage<\/p>\n
Want to contact your lost mate in the GA pit? Perhaps bring a walkie talkie, because getting a call out was like trying to contact Mars. <\/p>\n
Sure, back in the day losing your mate in the crowd was all part of the plan. But with plenty of kids and parents at these gigs, cellphone coverage can prevent a trip to the lost and found tent.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t a problem unique to Western Springs Bowl, but I\u2019ve seen some venues make deals with cellphone providers to bring in portable facilities and even Wi-Fi for guests, which makes sense today.<\/p>\n
Lack of cover and lighting<\/p>\n
Even with portable generator lights scattered around, it was ridiculously dark in certain areas, particularly on the terrace. <\/p>\n
More permanent lighting is needed and pronto. Being an outdoor gig, expecting rain or shade cover is a big ask, but even some temporary pergolas or tents would have been a good safety measure in a very exposed location.<\/p>\n
Olivia Dean delighted at Western Springs Bowl. Photo \/ Lola Mansell<\/p>\n
Final thoughts<\/p>\n
Despite the issues leaving and the logistical conundrums, I wasn\u2019t disappointed after a stellar performance.<\/p>\n
Sure, there are things that need fixing, and I think Auckland Transport and the council need to be part of that dialogue. But the Western Springs Bowl is a decent summer venue that fills a gap in the market. <\/p>\n
Is it perfect? No, but it wasn\u2019t in its previous iteration either. I\u2019ll still keep going and enjoy the show.<\/p>\n
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But when it\u2019s simple organisational things that could have been done better that put a dampener on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51237,3013,25759,10474,15441,36473,156,17515,1888,59517,111,139,69,1118,15363,51797,21311,35299,1534,5652,55600,2737,3593,1845,3457],"class_list":["post-635213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bowl","tag-but","tag-concert","tag-control","tag-crowd","tag-dean","tag-entertainment","tag-experience","tag-first","tag-improvement","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-olivia","tag-performed","tag-problem","tag-reviewed","tag-saturday","tag-signs","tag-springs","tag-star","tag-venue","tag-welcome","tag-western"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635213","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=635213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}