Growth leaves venues behind

Colin Lunt.


Tauranga is – as few can fail to notice – a rapidly growing city. And with growth comes growing pains.


As has been noted by far more irritated people than me, traffic is becoming an issue. It's hard to imagine it not getting a lot worse. But as someone who writes about music rather than roads my mind has been more exercised by the ever more noticeable lack of performance venues.

I mention this because I regularly get calls from out of town bands wanting to play in Tauranga and asking for a recommendation as to where. It's getting tricky.

For rock bands I wouldn't hesitate to send them to the Totara Street performance venue at MauaoPAC.

Terrific place for a rock gig, the only possible downside being the continued reluctance of people on the Tauranga side to go to events at the Mount. But that, obviously, is only one venue. I struggle to think of others.

Anyway, it wasn't really rock bands with the support to fill Totara St that I was thinking of in this context. Where does a visiting jazz band play? Or a folk outfit? Or any band that is hoping to attract a ticketed sit-down audience of between 100-200.

Talking to Colin

Like last week, I put some of these questions to long-time promoter Colin Lunt (You can find last week's column online at SunLive).

WW: Do you still get a lot of enquiries from bands about playing here? Which venues are you currently looking at?

CL: Only this past week I had a call from a well-known Wellington singer for a date in August. Looking for a 100-ish seats it looked like an easy gig – think again. Baycourt X-Space, a great venue, fully equipped and staffed, if a bit pricey, was booked.

I've used the Art Gallery several times but it has its drawbacks – no sound or lighting, flat space, comfortable limit of about 100 and also expensive when everything is taken into account. Acoustics are a challenge and it definitely needs expert sound.

Someone suggested the Historic Village... Been there, done that. The larger hall is ‘cold', inhospitable and needs an upgrade to make it work. It's currently a second-rate facility which could, with a bit of investment, be first class. The Little Theatre – too small, not a serious option.

Clubrooms

WW: Are there no rooms at the various clubs?

CL: There's a number of other venues like the Mount Club, RSAs and Citizens' Club but they have no raked seating or stages, nor technical backup or equipment. Not easily managed especially for touring bands and difficult to achieve good lighting and sound results without spending loads.

WW: What about the ASB Stadium?

CL: Big, fine for arena-sized events, but again, flat floors and expensive set-up charges. There's a couple of hotels which are okay for business meetings, with fabulous rooms and prices to go with them. But again, no technical back-up.

WW: So where can bands put on a ticketed show?

CL: Considering our population explosion the options are underwhelming. There's loads of cafes hosting bands as background ‘entertainment' but none really willing to close up for a ticketed event.

It's frustrating that with the increasing numbers of bands and shows touring New Zealand, Baycourt remains the one mid-size, dedicated entertainment venue and it is frequently booked months ahead.

A true story

Thanks Colin. And on that last point, here's a true story to finish with.

An Aussie jazz band rang me last week to enquire about where to play in Tauranga.

While in the middle of writing this column I rang Baycourt and enquired about the Exhibition Hall, the X-Space as they now like to call it.

The band wanted a specific Saturday in August, not a lot of notice, so I wasn't optimistic. Good news – amazingly, the X-Space was free! But, wait... There's a performance in the Main Theatre that night and because of the likelihood of sound crossing between the two rooms it wouldn't be possible to have a concert in the X-Space.

watusi@thesun.co.nz


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