WhyEd Sheeran snubbed ChCh

Ed Sheeran’s promoter Michael Gudinski says skipping Wellington and Christchurch was an easy decision.

Sheeran will play three shows in Auckland, and three in Dunedin, avoiding New Zealand’s second and third biggest cities, and Frontier Touring boss Gudinski says the decision was ‘‘pretty obvious, really’’.

Gudinski, 64, who has toured acts such as Leonard Cohen, Justin Bieber and Green Day to New Zealand, said Wellington and Christchurch’s venues just didn’t hold up.

He said performing in Wellington wasn’t an option for most major acts because setting up at Westpac Stadium could prove problematic.

Gudinski added: ‘‘To be honest with you, I’m a big fan of playing rugby pitches, it sounds better, it works better. In Wellington, it’s just... I’ve done one show at the Cake Tin.

‘‘It’s a great sporting venue, but...’’

Westpac Stadium chief executive Shane Harmon said a larger indoor arena in the Wellington region would be better for the capital.

‘‘We would see more acts coming through with a larger arena,’’ he said.

That is on the cards for the Wellington City Council, who projected $65 million for a 12000-seated indoor arena set to commence in 2021 and finish by 2023.

The risk of poor weather made playing stadium shows in the south an issue, Gudinski said, which made the roof at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium an attractive proposition.

He said he loved Christchurch and had taken Springsteen there but Dunedin was a safer bet.

Despite having a smaller population, Gudinski said New Zealanders were willing to travel for acts like Sheeran which meant they didn’t need to perform in the cities.

‘‘Why Dunedin? It’s got a fantastic venue, it’s covered and people in New Zealand are prepared to travel,’’ he said.

‘‘The venue is really attractive in Dunedin because of the weather.’’