FISHER? HOWZAT?!

The inside story on how a local promoter got Fisher, the world’s most in-demand DJ, to play the first-ever gig at the Mount’s iconic Bay Oval cricket ground.

WORDS KARL PUSCHMANN

For the past five years, TradeMark Live co-director Toby Burrows has been driving past the Bay Oval International Cricket Ground dreaming about putting on a show there.

With its vast space and prime location right in the heart of Mount Maunganui, the venue’s untapped potential was obvious to Toby. Not only would a successful show there bring energy, pride and cultural vibrancy to the community, it’d also be a massive boost to the local economy, filling hotels, restaurants, bars and local businesses as music fans, primed for a good time, flooded into town.

But, he also knew an event at this scale would take years of planning and would involve jumping through multiple consent hoops, adhering to strict conditions, not least of which included safeguarding the Oval’s “sacred” cricket pitch, and finding a summer window within the ground’s international cricket schedule. And, perhaps most difficult of all, the crucial task of finding an artist worthy of headlining such an iconic event.

Fortunately, Toby and his business partner Mitch Lowe knew just the man for the job.

“We pitched the idea to Fisher,” he says. The award winning DJ and house music producer is one of dance music’s most in-demand artists and is also one of Toby’s most requested acts. As he says, “Fisher and this venue were a perfect recipe.”

Having brought Fisher over last summer for two massive shows, including a record-breaking gig at Auckland’s Victoria Park, Toby and Mitch had an in, but with Fisher’s global popularity, they knew that they’d still have to convince the superstar.

“He’s a surfer, so I sold him on Mount Maunganui being a beachside town in the middle of summer,” he smiles. “And, I told him it would be the first time that this venue's ever been used for a large-scale concert, so it'd be a really iconic play that would go down in the history books.”

Even with the compelling sales pitch, Fisher made them sweat for an answer. “He sat with it for about four months,” Toby laughs, remembering the nervous wait. “But when he came back to us, he was really fired up about it. We definitely popped the champagne when he confirmed. We knew that when we announced it, it would get a massive response, and it has. It’s had a crazy, crazy response.”

Toby says they’re planning for a record-breaking 25,000-30,000 people at the show and is promising that it’ll be a big night.

“The production is so far beyond anything that's been done in New Zealand before,” Toby says. “Last year was big at Victoria Park. This is looking at three to five times bigger than that. With DJs, there’s a bit of a production arms race as to who can outdo each other. They're always trying to have the craziest show in the world. I think Fisher’s team have really outdone themselves with the design of this one. It's going to be pretty impressive.”

To mark the occasion and make a day of it, the gates will open in the afternoon. You can expect a festival atmosphere, with Toby saying there’ll be several support acts warming up the crowd and performing before Fisher takes the stage, to bring the event to a triumphant close.

“To do this dream idea in our hometown is really special,” Toby says. “Culturally, having something so cool in your city gives it an energy that makes it a desirable place to live. And even if there's no other show that ever happens at Bay Oval, this will be remembered forever.”

Fisher plays Bay Oval, Saturday, January 31.

For tickets, visit trademarklive.co.nz