Taranaki Daily News Editorial: Let There Be Many More 12-21-09
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-dail...e-be-many-more
OPINION: Among the 36,000 people who attended the two Fleetwood Mac concerts in New Plymouth this weekend, a large number had never been to the Bowl of Brooklands before. In fact, there were many who had never been to New Plymouth before.
It's obvious the visitors thoroughly enjoyed themselves in both respects. On Saturday night and again last night they jammed into the Bowl to enjoy the music provided by the legendary rock group, and during the daytime hours over the weekend they fully appreciated all the attractions that New Plymouth and Taranaki has to offer.
And that's the importance of events such as really big acts at the Bowl of Brooklands – all those people might never have otherwise travelled to Taranaki.
This region is stuck out there on the western side of the North Island, some distance away from State Highway 1 and even further away from the traditional holiday hot spots on the eastern side of the North Island, and that means Taranaki will always be a destination rather than a place travellers might call in to on their way from points A to B.
It also means, therefore, that the only way Taranaki will attract additional visitors is to host events that the public want to go to, such as concerts at the Bowl, Womad, Americarna, the arts festival, the garden festivals and, of course, big sporting occasions.
Most of these events cost the community money to attract, whether by way of up-front payments or by underwriting costs. But the payback can be immense – just ask the fans who thoroughly enjoyed this weekend's world-class concerts at the Bowl, or any of the New Plymouth retail, cafe and bar operators whose weekend trade went up big-time as the hordes of visitors hit town.
And what about the Bowl itself? How did it handle the record crowds it had to accommodate two days in a row? It did it easily. The concert-goers didn't mind the jam-packed – almost standing room-only – situation at all. In fact, it helped make things cosy enough so most probably didn't even notice the rain.
The most important point about the weekend's concerts is that New Plymouth's Bowl of Brooklands continues to offer the atmosphere and the acoustics that will attract big-name international acts, and that fans are quite prepared to travel to Taranaki from all over New Zealand to attend such concerts.
And, as is highlighted in today's newspaper, when Fleetwood Mac veteran Lindsey Buckingham says he rates the Bowl as one of the five top venues he has ever played, then the future of the facility will remain bright.