[ ClassicalX ] Why the tenors said no

Big-name acts have struck Nelson off the New Zealand touring circuit because the only suitable venue here is riddled with sound and sight problems and costs thousands of extra dollars to set up, says a promoter who has cancelled a Nelson show.

The Ten Tenors are the latest act to cancel their Nelson show. Promoters had cut the ticket price for the show, to be held at the Trafalgar Centre - which is undergoing a refit - but tickets still failed to sell, said Events Entertainment director Dennis Brown.

The problem has prompted renewed calls for the construction of a proposed performing arts centre to be hurried along.

Nelson Mayor Kerry Marshall earlier this month signalled that a decision on the planned $30 million performing arts and conference centre in the city would be made by this Friday.

Mr Brown said the Trafalgar Centre, the only Nelson venue large enough to accommodate big-name acts such as the Ten Tenors, lacked the proper rigging system for the necessary moving lights, and transporting the extra gear from Christchurch for the Ten Tenors show would have cost $8000.

Nelson was the only centre on the itinerary to have that problem, he said.

Despite a $10 reduction in the ticket price, Nelsonians had still failed to show any enthusiasm, Mr Brown said.
This was because of bad acoustics and poor sight lines in the Trafalgar Centre.

The problem had already caused other big-name artists to cross Nelson off their list of performance venues, he said.
By comparison, in Blenheim, which had the Marlborough Centre, tickets had already sold out for the June 18 concert there.

Mr Marshall this morning suggested that Nelsonians might have simply decided not to go to some shows.
Trafalgar Centre manager Shane Ferguson said the $7.5 million refit of the centre, which was due to be completed by December, would address most of Mr Brown's concerns.

The centre's current seating for 2150 will increase to 2500 as a result of the upgrade.

An acoustic ceiling was being hung, which would improve the sound quality in the centre "ten-fold", and a strengthened roof, along with a catwalk in the extension, would mean that moving lights could be installed, Mr Ferguson said.
Doors were being enlarged, meaning trucks would be able to drive inside the auditorium, vastly improving the efficiency of setting up and dismantling shows.

Ticket sales for the Ten Tenors might have been hampered by poor advertising, he said.

The proposed performing arts centre, with its smaller capacity, would not make the Trafalgar Centre obsolete, said Mr Ferguson.

Nelson Millennium Centre Trust chairwoman Bronwyn Monopoli said the Ten Tenors issue was a sign of a "continuing problem, because this sort of thing has happened in the past".

Everyman Records owner Greg Shaw, who has organised ticket sales in Nelson for 18 years but not for the Ten Tenors, said the biggest problem in Nelson was that the public traditionally waited until the last minute to buy tickets.
But Brent Eccles, general manager of Frontier Touring, which has recently toured big names such as the Foo Fighters and James Blunt, said Nelson was no worse in its ticket purchase habits than other provincial cities.

Source: Nelson Mail