Michelle Hooper: Auckland Unlimited head of major events ahead of Coldplay's Eden Park concert

Coldplay is set to hit the stage at Auckland's Eden Park later tonight, with over 50,000 people being expected to attend.

Extra public transport services are scheduled and fans will have the option to walk down a trail from the CBD - but traffic will be heavy.

Auckland Unlimited's head of major events, Michelle Hooper, says the headliners are expected to start about 8.15pm.

"They are absolutely global icons - and I'm just so pumped that Auckland's buzzing at the moment as a city. Coldplay are such loyalists to Auckland."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heller Dup to see Allen. Yeah, it's a big night
for Auckland tonight because Coldplayer is going to play the
first of their three shows at Eden Park. Guys here reckon.
They're going to start around quarter past eight, So I'm
going to check that out. This SAMs Early Auckland Transports
set up special event buses to get you there whatever.

(00:22):
You can just walk along an official fan trail. There's
a bunch of ways to get there. Michelle Hooper is
Tataki Unlimited Auckland Unlimited as head of Major Events. Hey Michelle, Hi, Heather,
how are you eight fifteen on stage?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Ah? Well, that's what they're saying. That's the time they'll
be there. I won't be their live tonight, but I
will be there on Friday, but let's hope. So.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
I mean, they're really parents if they're doing that day,
because you know, normally a good kicks off at nine,
doesn't it. Yes, But this is really big for the city,
isn't it. I Mean, I think a lot of people
are bit like Coldplay, but actually these guys are huge.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
They are absolutely global icons, and you know, I'm just
so pumped that, you know, Auckland's buzzing at the moment
as a city, come off the back of obviously two
amazing Pearl Jam concerts at go Media Stadium, and now
we've got going into a tripleheader of Coldplay at Eden Park,
our most iconic New Zealand stadium. You know, I really
think it's just such a buzz for Auckland's having such
incredible entertainment back to back, you know, and Coldplayer such

(01:15):
loyalists to Auckland. You know, I've been to two of
their concerts previously here and this is obviously the third.
They may even have come before I got onto them,
but it's just huge use.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Did we have to put up any money as a
city to lure them over? We lured with what.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
We could, but you know, we plan a bit of
a different ballpark to a lot of other international cities,
and we do rely on great relationships with our event
promoters and our stadiums.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
And sorry, what did we use to lure them over?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
With a bitter equity and also a lot of you know,
come on over and you know, reward out your New
Zealand fan base. We'll show you a good time.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Michelle will give you a bit of cash. I've always
wondered how this works. So do we actually pay like,
do we actually pay them directly to come over? Is
that how it works?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
It depends on we invest in the promoters and you know,
we work with the stadiums and the promoters on what
the best way to kind of make the compelling package
come together. And it really depends on the artist. You
know what they're looking for and you know how we
can work together as a group to facilitate what they
need in order to get them over here. Yeah, and
it does take a lot of cleborative teamwork because each

(02:26):
each proposition is quite different.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, listen, you're not going to tell me how much
you pay day it's.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
A bit commercially since it obviously because it's right on now.
But after the event it all comes out, so we'll.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Talk to you about it then. Michelle, thanks very much, appreciate.
Michelle Hooper Auckland Unlimited, Head of Major Events. That's how
it works. It's how it works with FIFA the World Cup.
That works with everything, You've got to pay them to
come over. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive listen
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