Ōtautahi / Christchurch Daily Photo

This was my second visit to our new stadium (my first was to see the Crusaders in training). This visit was to see Six60 and Synthony along with a number of other acts including Kaylee Bell.

I have to admit I was a bit clueless about Synthony – which turned out to be the Christchurch Symphony orchestra playing dance music.

We planned ahead and booked the bus to the stadium – which dropped us outside Ara.

This is about 4pm with a steady number of people arriving early.

Yes, we were really early, which made for a long night.

OMG! The stairs. They are long and steep. I lost count of the number of people I could see that were finding the stairs a bit challenging. No doubt word will get around (I had already heard they were very steep) and people with fitness or mobility challenges will go for a different section. We were seated in the 320s. If you have to sit there, make sure you get the lower section. I was genuinely worried about some people coming down the stairs especially when the lights were dimmed.

And wow what a spectacular event! It was surprise after surprise! Probably the biggest surprise for me was getting to see Savage who played his big hit – Swing. Also, the flying saxophonist was a little trippy.

Despite the stadium being covered, I found it a bit cold – especially when the stadium wasn’t full of people. So, if you are attending an event in winter or autumn and older than 40, bring a jacket! As for the sound, it was really good, but occasionally a bit ‘thumpy’ through the chest. One slightly annoying issue for those of use up high and directly in front of the stage is that the large screen was split into three – with the centre showing the name of the bad and then the live action shown on the left and right side – the problem being that a lot of the time the large speakers in front of the stage obscured parts of the screen – usually the performers head! An easy fix would be to drop the centre piece – I don’t think it was really needed, we knew who the acts were, they’d just been introduced after all.

For a much fuller and better description of the night, and just how crazy it was – see this piece from the Spinoff – Review: The many cheese dream surprises of Six60 and Synthony in Christchurch | The Spinoff