Aroha Nui: Kiwi acts line up to spread the love
The biggest music event of the year, the benefit concert You Are Us – Aroha Nui, will go ahead tonight in Christchurch.
The show was put together to raise money and bring people together following the Christchurch terror attack on March 15.
Just over a month after the attack, more than 28 of New Zealand’s most well-known entertainers will come together with about 25,000 Cantabrians at Christchurch Stadium.
The concert, which will feature a cameo from Lorde and performances from Six60 and Dave Dobbyn, will be broadcast live on channel Three.
The Aroha Nui concert had a successful tryout in front a sold-out crowd of Aucklanders at Spark Arena on Saturday. About 11,000 people went to the concert, which was described as a ‘‘rollercoaster’’.
Stuff reporter Amanda Saxton called the show ‘‘rollicking’’ and ‘‘poignant’’, with moments of music-induced joy alongside important speeches and moments of reflection.
The Christchurch concert has a bigger lineup than Saturday’s Auckland show. About 28 artists are on the bill, scheduled to perform in some way tonight.
Musicians from all genres are set to perform. A few notable highlights include:
Wellington rock band Shihad, whose frontman Jon Toogood spoke to Stuff about his conversion to Islam and why he had planned to keep details about his faith quiet. Toogood said that in the wake of the terror attack, which killed 50 Muslim worshippers, it was time to take a stand. ‘‘This is an attack on humanity,’’ he said.
Promoters have promised Lorde will make a ‘‘special guest appearance’’ at the Christchurch show. Music legend Dave Dobbyn is likely to open it.
In Auckland, he kicked the concert off with his classic
Welcome Home. The emotive and heart-warming song was released in 2005, in support of the anti-racism marches in Christchurch.
Dobbyn calls the song a ‘‘karakia’’ to welcome migrants to Aotearoa. Recorded in te reo and English, he says it was written ‘‘out of a sense of public decency to welcome immigrants’’.
Cantabrian singer-songwriter Marlon Williams will return to the stage, after performing a tear-jerking waiata at the National Remembrance Service at North Hagley Park.
Comedian Mike King will host the event.
Moments of musicinduced joy alongside important speeches and moments of reflection.
Amanda Saxton