Quest Carlaw Park

Date: 28/05/2012
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t's hard to imagine that Florence Welch and her band have only been on our radar for less than two years. It just feels like the flame-haired English singer, with her catchy yet complex sound and artsy stage persona, has been delighting fans worldwide for much longer. This is, in fact, her third visit to New Zealand, but on the strength of her latest release, Ceremonials, this tour sees Florence + the Machine step into the larger surrounds of Vector Arena and we have no doubt Kiwi fans will flock to catch the band here. The phenomenal success story of Florence and her band of collaborators harks back to the debut album Lungs, released in 2009. Critical acclaim and public intrigue soon followed and saw the band topping the charts worldwide. Within 18 months, Lungs won the Mastercard British Album Award at the 2010 BRIT Awards and Florence + the Machine was nominated for Best New Artist at the 53rd Grammy Awards. A performance of the hit single "Dog Days Are Over" at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards was a huge turning point: The worldwide audience was almost a billion, and by the following day, Florence was the most Googled person on the planet. It's a huge act to follow, but the follow up album, Ceremonials, has shown every sign of following the same path. Recorded with her full band during five weeks over the European summer in Abbey Road's legendary Studio 3, Ceremonials is another product of Welch's long-running collaboration with producer Paul Epworth. Together, they've created an expansive art-pop vision that can be both captivatingly tender while still frequently soaring to places where it can overwhelm the senses. Florence says, "This is the first time I've made a record with a sort of overarching, cohesive sound. It's the proper studio album in that sense: a group of songs that paint a unified picture of where I am in my life right now." Florence + the Machine's Vector Arena show will be part of an extensive worldwide tour that has already taken her across the US, where fans and critics have again been wowed, with many of the fans at the US Ticketmaster site observing that her voice in concert is even better than it sounds on the record. (See the bottom of this page for reviews). And as the reviewer of the June 18 Chicago show said on the website Consequence of Sound said: "See her live, and then call her what she really is: a force of nature, a consummate performer, and someone we’re all going to be hearing about for a long time." Don't miss Florence + the Machine in May 2012 at Vector Arena!

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Date: 29/06/2012 to 01/07/2012
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Co-promoter Brent Eccles says: "We are extremely excited by the amount of interest shown in the Flight of the Conchord tickets across New Zealand. ... This really is going to be a special homecoming and now with the Arena show there will be tickets for everyone!"" Adds co-promoter Stuart Clumpas "It's great news that we have a Kiwi act whose popularity is such that they look capable of selling out Vector Arena. There will be big screens and extra speakers covering the whole arena to ensure everyone in the room gets the full Conchords experience." The Conchords story is well known in New Zealand. TVNZ turned them down and HBO picked them up. Since the debut of their hit self-titled HBO TV series in 2007, they've been nominated for Emmy Awards, won a Grammy Award, been on TV's The Simpsons and they've met David Bowie (in a dream). And now they're finally bringing the live show back home and they're as excited as the rest of us: Bret says: "It's going to be great to play New Zealand again. I can't wait to perform where people can understand our accents." Jemaine concurs, adding, "We're looking forward to our very first New Zealand national tour. This will be by far the most convenient tour we've ever done." For New Zealand fans, the wait is indeed over. It's "Business Time" so get in quick cos Bret and Jemaine are going to "Rock the (Vector Arena) Party". SPECIAL GUEST: ARJ BARKER Joining the Conchords on their NZ tour is American stand-up comedian Arj Barker

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Date: 07/06/2012 to 10/06/2012
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Lady Gaga was last at Vector Arena in March 2010, playing two sold-out shows as part of her, “The Monster Ball” tour, which captivated audiences around the globe, receiving rave reviews in every city. The Sun called it “the best live show you will see this year,” and the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards named it the Major Tour of the Year. This tour looks set to up the ante, with Gaga saying “The Haus of Gaga and I have worked for months conceiving a spectacular stage. The Born This Way Ball is an electro-metal pop-opera; the tale of the Beginning, the genesis of the Kingdom of Fame. How we were birthed and how we will die celebrating.” The Born This Way Ball will be Lady Gaga’s first tour since the release of her album Born This Way, which has sold nearly 6 million copies worldwide since its release in May2011. The album is the follow-up to back-to-back Grammy Award-winning albums 2009’s The Fame Monster, and 2008’s The Fame. Combined, The Fame and The Fame Monster have sold 15 million albums worldwide, while Lady Gaga’s hit singles have combined sales of over 65 million worldwide. Gaga was named Forbes' Most Powerful Woman in the World 2011 and was included in Time's annual "The 2010 Time 100" list of the most influential people in the world. Little wonder: With over 2.2 billion combined views of all her videos online, Lady Gaga is also one of the biggest living people on Facebook (over 47 million ‘likes’), and is #1 on Twitter with nearly 19 million followers.

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Date: 04/08/2012
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Formed in Chicago in 1988, they released Gish, their influential platinum debut in 1991, which was followed by albums including the nine-time platinum Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and the four-time platinum Siamese Dream as well as the platinum certified 1988 album, Adore. The pivotal group's many hits defined the alternative music ear and continue to resonate on modern rock radio, influencing a whole new generation. The Pumpkins played Vector Arena in 2008, promoting their acclaimed sixth album, Zeitgeist, and they have remained on the cutting edge of music and technology with various online releases. This tour will be in support of their new album Oceania, which is set for release on June 22, 2012, as well as playing plenty of classics from the extensive Pumpkins catalogue.

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Date: 12/10/2013 to 13/10/2013
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Their BRIT Award winning debut single "What Makes You Beautiful" entered the charts at #1 in both the UK and Ireland and is double platinum in New Zealand and four times platinum in Australia. In the U.S., "What Makes You Beautiful" sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, debuting at #12 on the Billboard Digital Songs chart. Their #28 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 marked the highest debut from a British Group since the Spice Girls in 1998. Up All Night recently debuted at #1 in both Canada and on the US Billboard 200 chart with over 176,000 copies sold in week 1 alone. This makes chart history as the first British group ever to debut at #1 in the US with their debut album release. If you're lucky enough to have got a ticket for this weekend's shows, tomorrow will be the first night on their first sellout tour of New Zealand, and if you didn't, or even if you did, you can get a taster of their live performance on May 25th, when One Direction will release their first ever tour DVD, Up All Night, The Live Tour . It's available to pre-order now, featuring a 70-minute concert filmed at the Bournemouth show in January this year. The dynamic performance boasts all the band's hits, tracks from their debut album Up All Night, some of their favourite covers – plus a few surprises. Something to keep you going til next October, when we are absolutely delighted to be hosting One Direction's return to New Zealand here at Vector Arena. One Direction’s 2012 tour of New Zealand sold out in just 10 minutes. Their 2013 UK and Ireland Arena Tour sold out immediately - an estimated 300,000 tickets were sold in the first day - resulting in further dates being added. Their entire May/June 2012 tour of the USA also sold out in minutes, with their December 3 show at Madison Square Garden selling out in less than 10 minutes. We expect very high demand for these tickets, and details of how to purchase tickets may be found on Ticketmaster's website. Tickets for these shows go on sale now and are limited to 4 per person.

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Date: 12/08/2012
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Kenny Rogers Kenny was the first artist to chart hits in each of the last six decades and has recorded more than 65 albums (1 Diamond, 19 Platinum and 31 Gold), released over 120 singles and is featured in the Top Ten list of Best Selling Male Artists of all Time, with album sales of over 120 million. He has released 24 #1 songs and 70 singles were hits across multiple genres, while 2 albums, The Gambler and Kenny, are listed in the 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever. His latest album, For The Love of God, was a spiritual awakening for the three time Grammy winner who first sang "Amazing Grace" in the church choir. Twelve inspirational songs feature Kenny’s serene vocals accompanied by special guests on new arrangements with sweeping strings and soaring harmonies. Glen Campbell Glen Campbell has 9 Grammy Awards, including this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award and he won four of those in 1967 - the first artist to win in the Country and Pop categories in the same year - for “Gentle on My Mind” and “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, which along with the Most Played Song of the Millennium, “Wichita Lineman”, was enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

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Date: 03/11/2012
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It's a long way from their modest beginnings as a garage rock band in Akron, Ohio in 2001 but here they are, seven albums later, making the jump to hyperspace. Selling out festivals and arenas and shifting huge amounts of what used to be called "units", all while keeping their musical integrity firmly intact. The breakthrough came in 2010 upon the release of their sixth album Brothers. Steeped in the turmoil of broken marriages and busted friendships, its instantly iconic cover alone was enough to warrant a place in the pantheon of classic rock albums, but it was the music therein that became a statement of intent and a signpost of what was to come. The band's 21st century white boy blues was further expanded on their critically lauded late-2011 album El Camino, which became an instant commercial hit. Thus far, 2012 has been a year of highs for the band - most recently they co-headlined the Coachella festival with Radiohead, Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg. To say that their return to New Zealand is highly anticipated is a vast understatement. We haven't seen them for a few years and some of the grit of their early albums has been replaced by a more glam sensibility, but not much else has changed. It's still the unassuming duo of Dan (Auerbach - vocals/guitar) and Patrick (Carney - drums) playing like they did in the clubs and bars of Akron, albeit this time with the mother of all light shows.

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