ZZ Top headline Taupo¯
International acts back for Summer Concert Tour
Covid-19 forced the Taupo¯ Summer Concert to take a break earlier this year, with the 2022 edition cancelled, but the organisers have announced its return next year, featuring some impressive international acts.
The team at Greenstone Entertainment is “super-excited” the Summer Concert Tour is back for 2023, today announcing a huge lineup of international acts who will be taking centre stage in February.
The organisers said in a press release, “four fantastic international acts” will star at the Gibbston Valley Winery Summer Concert, Taupo¯ Summer Concert and Whitianga Summer Concert in February: ZZ Top, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Stone Temple Pilots, and The Angels.
“There’s been huge anticipation on who will be performing next year, so it’s time to get back to some great live rock and roll following the Summer Concert Tour having to take a break in 2022.”
It’ll be 35 years since ZZ Top played their epic New Zealand show where they performed to a reported crowd of over 80,000 at Western Springs in 1987. These Texan Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are synonymous with beards, hot-rod cars and spinning guitars.
ZZ Top are famous for their mix of rock, blues, and boogie, with hugely popular albums such as
Eliminator and Afterburner, which between them spent more than two years on the New Zealand charts, along with having produced instantly recognisable hits such as Sharp Dressed Man, Gimme All Your Lovin’, Legs and La Grange.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo are one of the most formidable power couples in rock history. With no fewer than 14 songs having reached the New Zealand Top 50 singles charts, and spanning a career of more than 43 years, hit songs like
Heartbreaker, Love Is a Battlefield and We Belong are just some of the classics that’ll rock concertgoers when we welcome them back to New Zealand after last performing at the Summer Concert Tour 10 years ago, in 2013.
Stone Temple Pilots bring a 90s flavour to the tour with the band’s unique sound, considered to be a blending of alternative rock of the 80s and 90s with the hard rock of the 70s. Lead singer Jeff Gutt is sure to get the crowd going with hits such as Interstate Love Song, Plush and
Vaseline, all of which have featured in the New Zealand single charts through the mid-90s.
Originally scheduled to perform at the 2021 Summer Concert Tour, The Angels lay claim to being one of Australia’s longest-lasting bands, dating as far back as 1976 when they first released Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again. Their relationship with the audience is everything to them, and their standard of live music is sure to have every show rocking when they perform the likes of Take A Long Line and No Secrets.
Greenstone Entertainment chief executive Amanda Calvert said: “It’s been a tough couple of years for everyone, and we can’t wait to play our small part in bringing back live entertainment to our fans and to give them something to look forward to in the summer of 2023.”
Taupo¯, Whitianga and Queenstown are among New Zealanders’ favourite summer holiday spots, and it’s going to be awesome to see the regions humming with the tens of thousands of concertgoers expected to attend one of our shows.
“We’ve been a must-do on people’s concert calendars over the last 12 years, and, with a move to February for 2023 to circumvent other events taking place on our traditional January dates, we’re excited that we’ll be able to celebrate Waitangi long weekend at both our Taupo¯ and Whitianga shows.”