45,000 may see duo

Press, 18 February 1983, Page 6

45,000 may see duo

From

NEVIN TOPP

in Auckland A crowd of between 40,000 and 45,000 is predicted for this evening’s Simon and Garfunkel concert at Western Springs Stadium. Auckland, by the duo’s New Zealand tour promoter, Mr Benny Levin.

The number of pre-sold tickets was 32,000, and gate, sales were expected to swell the attendance figure, he said yesterday. The weather was a factor that had to be taken into account.

The record audience for a rock concert at Western Springs was set by David Bowie in 1978, when he drew 42.700. Rod Stewart attracted 41.000 in the same vear. and

39.700 saw Fleetwood Mac in 1980.

Simon and Garfunkel, the popular American folk-rock duo of the 19605, whose string of hits included “Sounds Of Silence.” “Mrs Robinson,” “The Boxer.” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” re-formed .in 1981 after separating in 1970. An audience of more than 400,000 attended their reunion concert in Central Park, New York.

More than 700 tickets have been sold in Christchurch for the group’s Wellington concert, at Athletic Park on Sunday. Mr Levin said that a plane was being chartered from Invercargill to fly fans to the Wellington show, and Radio Otago, the Dunedin private

radio station, had organised a bus trip to the concert.

The cost to the Invercargill fans, including overnight accommodation, was almost $2OO each, he said.

. “The ages of people going to the shows are right across the board. Not just old people, but the ‘kids’ are going to the two concerts. “The interest throughout New Zealand is phenomenal,” he said. People’ were coming in buses" from as far north as Kaikohe and Kaitaia to the Auckland concert. A Hamilton radio station had organised 10 buses to bring fans to the show. Simon and Garfunkel arrived in Auckland last evening, having completed a series of concerts in- Australia.