Six60: Stadiums Tour announced for 2022

Six60 playing to a live crowd in Tauranga in 2015. Photo: Tracy Hardy/SunLive.

Six60 will embark on their first ever stadium tour of Aotearoa next year and are urging Kiwi fans to get vaccinated to ensure they don't miss out.

The chart-topping local group have confirmed their Six60 Saturdays tour will return bigger and better for a fourth year, with the band playing six stadium shows throughout the country next March. Tickets go on sale at midday on November 8.

'If you want to come and watch the show, you're going to have to be vaccinated,” frontman Matiu Walters says from Los Angeles, after the band's recent headline shows and festival dates in the US.

'It's the first ever full stadium tour of New Zealand, and we're going to some new places which is pretty cool.”

The tour will kick-off with a historic concert in Rotorua at the Rotorua International Stadium, followed by shows at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium, and Christchurch's Orangetheory Stadium.

The tour then heads back up north to Wellington's Sky Stadium for a second year, before the group again make history by being the first group to perform at Napier's Maclean Park.

The tour will conclude with another show at Auckland's Eden Park, the second time the band has played the iconic venue, a year after they were the first band to headline the stadium with their record-breaking sold-out concert in April.

The group is thrilled to perform in Rotorua, with Walters hinting that they have some special plans for the show, while they are also pumped to take the stage at Maclean Park.

'It's going to be epic. There will be a lot of Māori support in Rotorua, being such a cultural hub, so I think we could do something a little extra.

'We've been to Napier, but we're playing at Maclean Park, which is going to be cool as it's a hometown for some of the boys.”

Returning to Dunedin will hold added significance for the band this time, after they purchased their old student flat in July, which inspired the band's name, at 660 Castle Street.

The group has partnered with the University of Otago to offer four $10,000 scholarships each year to aspiring performing arts students, who will be able to live at the flat.

'Our roots are sown even deeper there since we purchased the Six60 house,” says Walters.

'We might spend a bit more time down there doing some events with the house and local community.

'Then we will go back to Eden Park, which is like our home now. We're excited to get back there and put another great show on.”

Walters, who is engaged to Caren Freeman and a recent new dad to five-month old daughter Boh, encourages all Six60 fans to get on board with the Covid-19 vaccine.

The singer is not surprised that vaccination certificates will become mandatory for Kiwis wanting to attend live music events under the governments new traffic light system, and says such measures are a fact of life now around the world.

'I'm vaccinated, I have my family to protect, and I thought a lot about my whānau in making that decision.

'I expected that something like this would come from the government. Being in the States, that's what the rest of the world is doing. I had to show proof of vaccination, and or a negative test to go to these festivals we're playing and to these shows.

'Protect your family. If you want to come see us at the show, the government has told you that you need to be vaccinated. That's my place on it.”

Walters has had his family with him in the US over the last two months, but is now the only Six60 member abroad after the other three members - Elia Paewai, Chris Mac, Ji Fraser and Marlon Gerbes - flew home and entered MIQ early last week.

He chose to remain in the US and continue working on new music before the band reunites in Paris in three weeks to begin their upcoming run of shows throughout Europe and the UK.

But Walters admits he is unsure if he will be able to secure an MIQ spot back in New Zealand for him and his family, and says there are no guarantees they will make it home to Auckland before Christmas.

'Well, if an MIQ spot becomes available, then I'd love to be home for Christmas. But who knows.”

Walters promised fans they can look forward to some throwback tunes being performed throughout their tour , following last week's 10th anniversary of Six60's self-titled debut album.

The certified gold album has spent a combined total of four and a half years in the local Top 40 and is nine-times platinum, producing anthems such as ‘Don't Forget Your Roots', ‘Rise Up', and ‘Forever'.

He remains guarded about the prospect of the band delivering any new material for the tour, but was looking forward to performing their latest single ‘Pepeha'.

'It's hard to say with those things. If the music's ready the music's ready,” he says.

'‘Pepeha's our first bilingual song has reached number one on the official chart, and I think holds some importance, so that's going to be really cool to realise that live.

'Our debut album just turned 10, so that's going to be really cool to inject those old-school vibes into the show too.”

Six60 Saturdays - The Stadium Tour 2022

Tickets on sale midday, November 8

March 5, 2022 - Rotorua International Stadium, ROTORUA

March 12, 2022 - Forsyth Barr Stadium, DUNEDIN

March 19, 2022 - Orangetheory Stadium, CHRISTCHURCH

March 26, 2022 - Sky Stadium, WELLINGTON

April 2, 2022 - McLean Park, NAPIER

April 9, 2022 - Eden Park, AUCKLAND

-Stuff/David Skipworth.

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1 comment

gosh

Posted on 27-10-2021 21:03 | By dumbkof2

what have we done to have this inflicted on us


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