Fleetwood Mac In NZ!

[michelej1]

December 4, 2009
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...oncert-weekend

Before its demise, the USSR was famous for its detailed statistics on everything from toothpick production to household lightbulb use.

Now the New Plymouth District Council has got in on the act and released a bunch of numbers about its preparation for the coming flood of Fleetwood Mac fans.

Though interesting, your life will not be improved by knowing that some 3000 ice-creams, 8000 hot dogs and 50kg of paella are expected to be consumed at the December 19 and 20 concerts.

Nor will the fact 450 people are arriving by train on Saturday night add meaning to your existence. However drinkers may be relieved to know there will be 160 food and beverage staff serving along 45m of bar frontage on both nights.

To cope with the influx of more than 20,000 visitors to the people's glorious province of Taranaki, Air New Zealand is putting on six additional flights.

This means more than 50 flights will be coming into and leaving New Plymouth airport over the weekend making it very close to quite busy.

There are also 10,000 travellers expected to arrive by car from the north, 10,000 from the south and a few from the east but none will be allowed in from the west.

Council customer service manager Cathy Thurston said they had so far organised 170 volunteers to help Fleetwood Mac fans around the city with information and advice.

"However, we need 105,000 ambassadors for the region," Ms Thurston said.

"Apart from anything else, these preparations for the Fleetwood Mac weekend will be a great dress rehearsal for other big events that are coming up, including the All Blacks versus Ireland test match next year, and the Rugby World Cup 2011."

[michelej1]

[Prime Minister Must Go His Own Way and Can't Attend Concert]
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...0614301&pnum=0

Missing Mac? Key must be serious

By Fran O'Sullivan, New Zealand Herald, December 9, 2009

Prime Minister John Key has re-affirmed to business that New Zealand's target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10-20 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 is highly conditional.

Key - who will fly out next week for the UN Climate Change conference has made it clear: "If New Zealand doesn't get the rule changes it wants, we (NZ) should be under no illusions about changing our target."

Key reaffirmed his Government's bottom-line at a dinner last week attended by many of New Zealand's biggest players in agriculture and international trade.

Not only did the Prime Minister underline the Government was hedging its bets on this score, but he also indicated that one of the reasons why he had been loath to sign up earlier for the Copenhagen event was because it would clash with the Fleetwood Mac gig (the 70s group that played at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration will appear in New Plymouth for two concerts this month).

The PM does a great line in corn.

"I could just see the headline ... 'John goes his own way'," he said.

Instead, says Key, he will be at Copenhagen with all the other leaders where he "won't stop thinking about tomorrow".

Ouch. Theoretically, the Prime Minister could still make it back to New Plymouth in time for Fleetwood Mac's second concert on December 20. But he would be pushing it to make the first concert unless he left Copenhagen early by skipping the vital second of the leaders' meetings at which superstars such as US President Barack Obama will be present. Fat chance.

At times like these Key must wish that New Zealanders would just get over themselves and approve the purchase of a Government jet. But the reality is if he had decided to stay home, it would simply have given the impression that New Zealand isn't committed to playing its part in the fight against climate change.

But even before Key made his public announcement, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith had advised a Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing that the PM intended to go. That briefing was apparently very different in tone compared to the soundings that took place before the 2007 Bali conference.

From insider accounts, it would appear that Smith is much less inclusive of the usual groupings of NGOs and activists that the Labour Government used to bring on board to build a constituency for change and assuage opposition.

The biggest bugbear will be getting the rule changes endorsed.

Under existing Kyoto Protocol rules, New Zealand's overall emissions are set to rise steeply after 2020, which is when the major 1990s forest plantations will be ready for harvesting.

The current rules say unless forests are replanted on the same land where a forest is felled, the carbon stored by the felled trees is deemed to evaporate into the atmosphere and has to be counted in New Zealand's greenhouse gas tally.

Smith and associate climate change minister Tim Groser are trying to effect a switch to get official recognition at Copenhagen that not all the carbon that is sequestered by trees is released at harvest.

Much of it (70 per cent by some reckonings) is locked up in forest products like timber and fibre board. This will no doubt raise scepticism among the purest of "greenies" (if you can't get your emissions down by any other means, then just change the rules!).

But, arguably if the rules were based on poor science in the first place, then all New Zealand's negotiators are doing is restoring some much needed sanity to the debate.

With other nations including Japan - which imports a huge amount of timber on top of its existing forest reserves - sharing this viewpoint, it is possible that a rule change may be effected.

New Zealand is also seeking rule changes over land use and the international carbon market - which the Ministry for the Environment says are important because it will impact on New Zealand's ability to meet its future responsibility target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Key had made it clear the Government's greenhouse gas emissions target is also dependent on the rest of the world reaching a new deal on climate change.

This makes sense given that New Zealand businesses could be strongly disadvantaged if competitor countries do not move.

Smith's new emissions trading scheme - which was passed with the connivance of the Maori Party - will be reviewed for the first time in 2011.

He believes New Zealand would need to "keep nimble-footed" in response to developments in international negotiations, advances in climate change science and as new technologies become available.

But his contention that the Government's ongoing principle will be ensuring New Zealand does its fair share will be difficult to uphold if the big nations choose not to do their fair share.

One of the points that Key makes to business audiences is that all Obama has pledged is a 17 per cent reduction on the United States' 2005 emissions level - which equates to just a 3 per cent cut on its 1990 levels. These are the kind of comparisons that do not register with Greenpeace.

He also believes Copenhagen will be a fizzer unless the "big guys" - China, United States and India - come to the party.

Where the Government negotiators will focus is on getting across New Zealand's position that it has had the fastest population growth of any Annex One country since Kyoto was formed, the fact that 70 per cent of energy is renewable leaves little room for gains on that score, and that agriculture makes up 50 per cent of emissions.

The major switch that really needs to be made is to find a new transitional rule around agriculture emissions that will see them treated more leniently until scientific developments can effect a reduction in the levels emitted by dairy cattle in particular.

On this score, Groser and Smith hope to press home the humanitarian necessity for countries such as New Zealand - which are blessed in water supplies - to grow food for other nations not so blessed.

In all reality while the Government's new emissions scheme is not going to make huge headway in the next 11 years, it does enable Key and his two ministers to front at Copenhagen with some degree of credibility.

Ironically, the Government's own advice is that climate change will be more of a problem - not less of a problem. Key's advice is the implications are likely to hit the world faster and with more severity: "The latest advice: if you go to the Arctic circle in 20 years' time over summer there would be no ice."

He may well wish he had stayed at home to hear Fleetwood Mac sing: "If I could turn the page, In time then I'd rearrange just a day or two, Close my, close my, close my eyes ..."

[EnchantedKiwi]

Originally Posted by michelej1

[Prime Minister Must Go His Own Way and Can't Attend Concert]
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...0614301&pnum=0

Missing Mac? Key must be serious

By Fran O'Sullivan, New Zealand Herald, December 9, 2009

Prime Minister John Key has re-affirmed to business that New Zealand's target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10-20 per cent on 1990 levels by 2020 is highly conditional.

Key - who will fly out next week for the UN Climate Change conference has made it clear: "If New Zealand doesn't get the rule changes it wants, we (NZ) should be under no illusions about changing our target."

Key reaffirmed his Government's bottom-line at a dinner last week attended by many of New Zealand's biggest players in agriculture and international trade.

Not only did the Prime Minister underline the Government was hedging its bets on this score, but he also indicated that one of the reasons why he had been loath to sign up earlier for the Copenhagen event was because it would clash with the Fleetwood Mac gig (the 70s group that played at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration will appear in New Plymouth for two concerts this month).

The PM does a great line in corn.

"I could just see the headline ... 'John goes his own way'," he said.

Instead, says Key, he will be at Copenhagen with all the other leaders where he "won't stop thinking about tomorrow".

Ouch. Theoretically, the Prime Minister could still make it back to New Plymouth in time for Fleetwood Mac's second concert on December 20. But he would be pushing it to make the first concert unless he left Copenhagen early by skipping the vital second of the leaders' meetings at which superstars such as US President Barack Obama will be present. Fat chance.

At times like these Key must wish that New Zealanders would just get over themselves and approve the purchase of a Government jet. But the reality is if he had decided to stay home, it would simply have given the impression that New Zealand isn't committed to playing its part in the fight against climate change.

But even before Key made his public announcement, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith had advised a Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing that the PM intended to go. That briefing was apparently very different in tone compared to the soundings that took place before the 2007 Bali conference.

From insider accounts, it would appear that Smith is much less inclusive of the usual groupings of NGOs and activists that the Labour Government used to bring on board to build a constituency for change and assuage opposition.

The biggest bugbear will be getting the rule changes endorsed.

Under existing Kyoto Protocol rules, New Zealand's overall emissions are set to rise steeply after 2020, which is when the major 1990s forest plantations will be ready for harvesting.

The current rules say unless forests are replanted on the same land where a forest is felled, the carbon stored by the felled trees is deemed to evaporate into the atmosphere and has to be counted in New Zealand's greenhouse gas tally.

Smith and associate climate change minister Tim Groser are trying to effect a switch to get official recognition at Copenhagen that not all the carbon that is sequestered by trees is released at harvest.

Much of it (70 per cent by some reckonings) is locked up in forest products like timber and fibre board. This will no doubt raise scepticism among the purest of "greenies" (if you can't get your emissions down by any other means, then just change the rules!).

But, arguably if the rules were based on poor science in the first place, then all New Zealand's negotiators are doing is restoring some much needed sanity to the debate.

With other nations including Japan - which imports a huge amount of timber on top of its existing forest reserves - sharing this viewpoint, it is possible that a rule change may be effected.

New Zealand is also seeking rule changes over land use and the international carbon market - which the Ministry for the Environment says are important because it will impact on New Zealand's ability to meet its future responsibility target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Key had made it clear the Government's greenhouse gas emissions target is also dependent on the rest of the world reaching a new deal on climate change.

This makes sense given that New Zealand businesses could be strongly disadvantaged if competitor countries do not move.

Smith's new emissions trading scheme - which was passed with the connivance of the Maori Party - will be reviewed for the first time in 2011.

He believes New Zealand would need to "keep nimble-footed" in response to developments in international negotiations, advances in climate change science and as new technologies become available.

But his contention that the Government's ongoing principle will be ensuring New Zealand does its fair share will be difficult to uphold if the big nations choose not to do their fair share.

One of the points that Key makes to business audiences is that all Obama has pledged is a 17 per cent reduction on the United States' 2005 emissions level - which equates to just a 3 per cent cut on its 1990 levels. These are the kind of comparisons that do not register with Greenpeace.

He also believes Copenhagen will be a fizzer unless the "big guys" - China, United States and India - come to the party.

Where the Government negotiators will focus is on getting across New Zealand's position that it has had the fastest population growth of any Annex One country since Kyoto was formed, the fact that 70 per cent of energy is renewable leaves little room for gains on that score, and that agriculture makes up 50 per cent of emissions.

The major switch that really needs to be made is to find a new transitional rule around agriculture emissions that will see them treated more leniently until scientific developments can effect a reduction in the levels emitted by dairy cattle in particular.

On this score, Groser and Smith hope to press home the humanitarian necessity for countries such as New Zealand - which are blessed in water supplies - to grow food for other nations not so blessed.

In all reality while the Government's new emissions scheme is not going to make huge headway in the next 11 years, it does enable Key and his two ministers to front at Copenhagen with some degree of credibility.

Ironically, the Government's own advice is that climate change will be more of a problem - not less of a problem. Key's advice is the implications are likely to hit the world faster and with more severity: "The latest advice: if you go to the Arctic circle in 20 years' time over summer there would be no ice."

He may well wish he had stayed at home to hear Fleetwood Mac sing: "If I could turn the page, In time then I'd rearrange just a day or two, Close my, close my, close my eyes ..."

HAHA The PM needs to sort out his priorities!

[EnchantedKiwi]

Gearing up for grandstand view

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...randstand-view




The six-year-olds of New Plymouth's Frankley School had mixed opinions of the temporary seating platform installed for the first time over the Bowl of Brooklands lake yesterday.

Work on the much-debated platform began on Monday and should be mostly finished by today.

It adds more than 1000 premium-priced seats to the Bowl's capacity and will be used at the weekend's two Fleetwood Mac concerts.

Tickets on the platform cost $320 and Poppy Johnson, 6, reckoned it looked cool.

She particularly liked the light brown plastic seats, which have been used at various venues around the North Island before finding a home here.

Sophie Dempster, 6, also thought the platform looked "nice" but did not know who Fleetwood Mac was and neither did Harry Clegg, 6, who had other things on his mind anyway.

"My friend Cooper is an alien and his parents are too and they have a spaceship under their trampoline," he said, despite Sophia Longstaff, 6, telling him Cooper's parents had just been joking.

Tina Johnson, mother of Poppy, said she was pleased with the look of the platform though suspected she was one of the few.

"They think it's against the whole spirit of the Bowl. I think it is a good way to stop the silly buggers jumping in the water and getting electrocuted," she said.

Neale Kendall, the man overseeing the installation of the platform, said his company Acrow Ltd had put in temporary seating in all sorts of venues around the North Island.

However, putting them in over a lake was a first.

"The boys brought up waders, had their tetanus shots, got the insect repellent and sunscreen. This is a job we didn't want to take lightly.

"We are the last link in the chain and if it doesn't go right, unfortunately it's my head on the block. Saying that, I'm very confident it will be OK," he said.

Work on removing the platform will begin on Monday.

Brookland's Zoo is closing at noon on Saturday and all of Sunday this weekend.

"Pedestrian and vehicle traffic will be restricted before the concerts start so the zoo will be closed as well," zoo spokeswoman Eve Cozzi said.

Public vehicles must be out of the zoo's carpark by noon on Saturday to enable the Bowl's set-up to be finished by the time entry to the venue's holding areas open at 5pm.

[vivfox]

New Plymouth's two Fleetwood Mac concerts this weekend will give police and the city a pair of Saturday nights.

But the boys in blue are not expecting any trouble from the 36,000 Fleetwood Mac fans in town for the Saturday and Sunday night concerts.

Senior Sergeant Robbie O'Keefe said police would be treating the Sunday night the same as a Saturday in terms of staff numbers to cope with the influx on fans.

As well as that 10 inner-city bars have applied for special licences to stay open until 2am on Monday morning, so Sunday's concertgoers can keep the good times rolling.

Usually the quietest night of the week, this Sunday will almost certainly see some of the 18,000 fans heading to town around 10pm. "Honestly, we aren't expecting any trouble from them," Mr O'Keefe said. "We'll be there to make sure everyone is having a good time and the CBD remains vibrant and safe for them to do that."

That vibrancy will be visible on the streets longer than usual with most bars extending their outdoor areas for the two nights and keeping them open longer.

Usually such outdoor spots have to move inside by 1am but on Sunday morning they will be allowed until 3am and Monday 2am.

Venture Taranaki's regional tourism man, Paul Stancliffe, said while many people would start arriving in the city today and tomorrow, most of the 20,000 non-Taranaki people expected would be travelling here on Saturday. "With both concerts sold out we can expect town to be saturated with people, hopefully not with rain," he said.

At this stage Saturday's weather is looking to be cloudy and with a small chance of rain. Sunday fares a little better with mostly clear skies.

The decades old supergroup finished the Australian leg of their Unleashed tour last night in Brisbane, with New Plymouth their next gigs.

Reviews of their concerts have been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

Kathy McCabe, music editor of Sydney's The Daily Telegraph said of the concert "Hit after hit after hit, the setlist would represent the Holy Grail to any band who has only a couple of records under their belt."

The city's two sold-out shows are the group's last in their 10-month global tour but it seems unlikely they will stop playing together.

Rumours are already swirling about a possible US tour with The Eagles next year.

FLEETWOOD MAC - THE CONDENSED STORY

1967: Fleetwood Mac is formed in London. The name comes from combining the names of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie.

Ad Feedback 1969: Christine McVie, who would pen some of the bands most popular hits, joins.

1975: Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham (the two remaining members of the current band) join. Eponymous album Fleetwood Mac reaches number 1 in the US, selling more than 5 million copies. Among the hits were Over My Head, Say You Love Me, Rhiannon and Landslide.

1977: Band releases Rumours which sold more than 40 million copies and remains one of the biggest selling albums of all times. Hits singles include Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Don't Stop, You Make Loving Fun, Second Hand News, Gold Dust Woman and The Chain (the only song written by all five bandmates).

1977: Release 20-track double album, Tusk. It spawned three hits: Tusk, Think About Me and Sara.

1987: After a decade of excess, the disappointing Mirage album and various solo albums, the band release Tango in the Night with hit singles Big Love, Everywhere and Little Lies.

1997: After yet another decade of turmoil in which band members came and went, the Rumours line up officially reformed.

1998: Christine McVie left the band and returned to the UK to retire from touring.

2009: Unleashed Greatest Hits tour begins on March 1. Arrives in New Plymouth on December 19 for two sold-out concerts at the Bowl of Brooklands.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...ecting-trouble

[DavidMn]

Well, it's only a couple days now till the big shows! I woud love to be there, but will be in spirit thats for sure! This will be a very special 2 nights I know what an amazing venue from seeing the pictures! What a fantastic year this has been for all of us Mac fans and now it's NZ's turn. ENJOY!!!!!!

[EnchantedKiwi]

Originally Posted by DavidMn

Well, it's only a couple days now till the big shows! I woud love to be there, but will be in spirit thats for sure! This will be a very special 2 nights I know what an amazing venue from seeing the pictures! What a fantastic year this has been for all of us Mac fans and now it's NZ's turn. ENJOY!!!!!!

It's been a loooooonng time coming! Sooo excited Have to get ready for my 5 hour drive to New Plymouth tomorrow morning! Crossing my fingers the road arent mayhem!

[vivfox]

Supergroup Fleetwood Mac will attempt a sneaky entrance in to New Plymouth today to avoid mobs that have greeted them during their world tour.

They are playing two sold-out concerts at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands this weekend and are understood to have declined Mayor Peter Tennent's offer of a Maori powhiri, or any type of welcome, when they arrive sometime between 3pm and 5.30pm today.

That is unless band member Stevie Nicks can convince her fellow members to accept the powhiri.

New Plymouth Mayor Peter Tennent said Ms Nicks enjoyed the traditional Maori welcome to Taranaki when she was here in 2006.

"She just loved it, but if they don't want it this time and just want to get in the zone to prepare for their concert, I can understand that and fully support it."

The promoter was still trying to convince the band to accept the welcome and experience the difference between New Zealand and the rest of the world, he said.

The decision to slip quietly into the city is apparently to avoid problems similar to those encountered in other countries, where the sheer number of fans turned their arrival into chaos.

If they do not change their minds, they will be visible to their devoted followers for just a few seconds before the concert – as they leave their chartered plane to get into the cars waiting for them on the tarmac.

But just when that glimpse can be had is a closely-guarded secret.

"I won't know when they are due to arrive until just before they take off from Wellington," New Plymouth Airport manager Kevin Hill said yesterday.

Though most flights are registered weeks and months before, there is no obligation for chartered flights to do the same.

"Basically, all I know is a plane is coming and that it will fit at one of our gates. They pay us landing fees and that is it," said Mr Hill.

Whatever the former notoriously hard-living band decide, they have already had their dressing room requirements filled by venue caterers Eurest.

Though they were tight-lipped about just what those requests were. Bowl manager Adrienne Kensington was allowed to say they were quite ordinary.

"Nothing really odd at all. We've had some weird ones before, but this time we didn't have to go out of the country to get everything they wanted."

The two New Plymouth concerts are the last in the band's 10-month Unleashed tour.

More than 17,000 fans are expected each night at the outdoor venue and New Plymouth is bracing itself for 20,000 visitors from outside the region.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...s-to-duck-fans

[vivfox]

Fans kept in dark over park
Park lights to go live on Saturday night
By MATT RILKOFF - Taranaki Daily News Last updated 10:14 18/12/2009

Fleetwood Mac fans arriving in town today will have to make do with the lights of late night shopping because Pukekura Park won't be turning on early.

For months now the TSB Festival of the Lights has been planned to start tomorrow night, which happened to coincide with the first Fleetwood Mac concert announced at a later date.

With New Plymouth expecting thousands of visitors to arrive in town today, a number of callers to the Taranaki Daily News wondered why the Festival of the Lights is not being turned on tonight.

New Plymouth District Council customer services manager Cathy Thurston said there had been a sneak preview of the lights last week and everyone here for the concert would be able to see it tomorrow night.

"As part of the LTCCP [Long Term Council Community Plan] this year the Festival of Lights had its budget cut by $50,000 so we cut it back in a number of ways including length," she said.

Luckily most central New Plymouth retailers will be open late tonight for the seasonal Christmas shopping rush and there are festive light aplenty along both East and West Devon St.

Added to that will be the pleasant sound of the New Plymouth Brass Band which will be play in the Huatoki Plaza this evening.

"The entertainment will make it all a bit more festive," said Judith Gilmer of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce which has organised the music.

With more than 20,000 visitors expected in the city for the two concerts Ms Gilmer said the influx would put retailers under pressure.

"I look at it like this. This weekend is a busy shopping time every year and this year the extra people in town will be a good opportunity for them to pick up extra business."

Many retailers had extended their hours for the weekend and rostered extra staff to cope with the expected demand.

Even though it won't be turning on the lights, the council will be supplementing tonight's Huatoki Plaza entertainment with the famous Grimace the Gorilla and a few Christmas fairies. Fleetwood Mac plays two concerts at New Plymouth's Bowl of Brooklands this weekend.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...dark-over-park

[vivfox]

Forecast has Mac fans in raincoat mode
By ESTHER TAUNTON - Taranaki Daily News Last updated 05:00 19/12/2009

Protection from the elements was among the top shopping priorities for Fleetwood Mac fans yesterday.

With wet weather forecast for both Saturday and Sunday, plastic ponchos were in hot demand and the supply at The $2 Shop on Devon St East ran dry early.

Down the road, Kathmandu on Devon St West still had plenty of the lightweight, rain resistant garments to go around.

Getting off to a slower start were the weekend's sales of Fleetwood Mac albums.

At Marbecks music store in Centre City, a Fleetwood Mac display was expected to be hit hard this weekend.

"We haven't noticed a lot of extra demand for Fleetwood Mac so far, but I'm sure it will pick up," shop assistant Grace Hepburn said.

Ms Hepburn said there had been a rush on the band's albums when the concerts were announced in August.

"We sold out of their Greatest Hits album just about straight away," she said. "At the time it was being remastered and we couldn't really get any more in."

And for those still debating whether or not to get along to one of the shows, tickets for allocated seating were still available for both shows on ticketmaster.co.nz last night.

Ticketmaster no longer had general admission tickets for either show but there were plenty of listings to sift through on Trade Me.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...-raincoat-mode

[vivfox]

Making life easy for Fleetwood Mac concertgoers
Taranaki Daily News Last updated 05:00 19/12/2009

Tips for thousands of out-of-towners descending on New Plymouth for the Fleetwood Mac concerts tonight and tomorrow have been issued by the New Plymouth District Council.

It suggests several ways to get to the concerts at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands.

Taking a shuttle bus or walking to the venue are the best options, says the council's manager of customer and regulatory services, Simon Pickford.

Buses are being provided to and from the concerts.

Eight shuttle buses will leave the bus station on Ariki St in a continual loop from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, returning to town from Kaimata St from 10.35pm. The buses will run as long as there is a demand. Bus rides will cost a gold coin donation per person per trip.

"The buses are there, but we really want people to walk through the park and take advantage of the lights," Mr Pickford says.

Walkers should head up Liardet St and through Pukekura Park to the Dell entrance to the Bowl.

Parking will be available for those who want to drive, but streets around the venue will be very busy.

The council recommends that people park in town in the Centre City, Downtown and The Warehouse carparks which will be open until 2am on Sunday and Monday. Parking in council off-street car parks and the Centre City parking building will be free after 5pm on Saturday, with free parking all day on Sunday.

Free parking areas closer to the venue include Pukekura Raceway, via the entrance off Coronation Avenue, Vogeltown Park and the Witt car park after 4pm.

Parking is also available at Highlands Intermediate School (entrance off Coronation Avenue) for $5 as a school fundraiser.

Alcohol, glass, opened beverages, commercial food, hard-sided chairs, or recording devices cannot be taken into the venue.

The Kaimata St waiting area has a food village with 22 different food outlets and a bar, and there are two smaller food and beverage areas at the front of the Bowl.

The weather for the concerts does not look good, with northwesterlies and drizzle turning to rain tonight, and rain and showers with strong westerlies tomorrow.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...c-concertgoers

[vivfox]

Concert goers in New Plymouth are being urged to keep an eye out for drunk cyclists involved in the 'Hawera Pub Crawl' today
19 December 2009

Motorists travelling to the Fleetwood Mac concert in New Plymouth tonight are being asked to watch out for hundreds of potentially drunk cyclists.

Around 2000 people have been taking part in the infamous Hawera pub crawl today. They been on the turps since, 9.30am and this afternoon they take on State Highway Three.

Inspector Dave White says a traffic management plan is in place. He says with around 25,000 people expected in New Plymouth for the concert, people going through Hawera may need some extra time for the trip. He says there will probably be cyclists on the main highway until around half past four.

Mr White says the pub crawlers have been fairly well behaved so far, ahead of police moving mainly into a liquor enforcement role this afternoon.

http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/articl...=newsmain,nrhl

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by vivfox

Fans kept in dark over park
Park lights to go live on Saturday night
By MATT RILKOFF - Taranaki Daily News Last updated 10:14
Even though it won't be turning on the lights, the council will be supplementing tonight's Huatoki Plaza entertainment with the famous Grimace the Gorilla and a few Christmas fairies. Fleetwood Mac plays two concerts at New Plymouth's Bowl of Brooklands this weekend.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...dark-over-park

Oh, I didn't know strandinthewind was down here making some extra cash.

[vivfox]

Fleetwood Mac hit New Plymouth

Published: 7:16PM Saturday December 19, 2009

Fleetwood Mac took to the stage at New Plymouth's bowl of Brooklands on Saturday night in the first of their two sold-out concerts.

At 62 Mick Fleetwood is savouring the finer things in life such as the adoration of 17,000 fans watching him perform.

"This is a real book marker in Fleetwood Mac's history, coming back here. I hope we make it through the gig," he said before the concert.

The last time Fleetwood and his band were welcomed for a Kiwi concert was back in 1980 but the band is still playing music and still touring the world.

Fleetwood has now spent over 40 years in showbiz as it was 1967 when he first drummed for the original Fleetwood Mac.

As they have wracked up their hits the group has battled through arguments, drug addiction and about six or seven different guitarists.

Through it all Fleetwood Mac still sells. Tickets to the New Plymouth concerts were sold out and the best of album has spent weeks in the New Zealand charts.

With younger generations of fans these days Fleetwood says the band's next Kiwi concert will not be such a long wait.

http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news...ymouth-3315357

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by vivfox

With younger generations of fans these days Fleetwood says the band's next Kiwi concert will not be such a long wait.

Oh yeah? Does Mick know something we don't know?