Kiwi musicians, promoters and event organisers are springing into action following yesterday’s Covid-19 Level 1 announcement, with mass gatherings now given the green light.
There are now no physical distancing restrictions, and limits on gatherings have also been removed.
Following the alert level announcement, New Zealand band L.A.B wasted no time in making one of their own. In less than a month they’ll be playing at Auckland’s Spark Arena, one of the first live performances since the virus hit.
Joel Shadbolt, L.A.B lead singer, says it's been a long time coming.
“We haven't played a show in three months. I think it's the longest we've been off the road for more than three years. We haven't had a break for this long for over three years.
“First arena show... From nothing straight to Spark Arena, it's gonna be choice.”
Music promoters are also back in action. Mikee Tucker says lockdown's been hard on the industry, so yesterday’s announcement was a relief.
“Lockdown's been really hard. In May alone we moved around a million dollars worth of shows from May that was sold out to October/November because we wanted to be safe about it,” says Mr Tucker.
“It's a bit of a relief... A relief for the entire industry to just get back up and running again.”
For festival organisers, things may not be smooth sailing straight away, with New Zealand's borders closed for the forseeable future.
But Hamish Pinkham of Rhythm and Vines says they're using it as an opportunity to shine a light on New Zealand artists.
"It may be that international guests won't be joining us so we've taken a Kiwi focus on this year's event. You know RnV's got a proud history of supporting local talent and the current situation's given us a chance to reengage with the local industry," says Pinkham.
He hopes a trans-Tasman bubble could also bolster their offering.
"We're talking to artists that may wanna join us in New Zealand for the summer and get more work throughout the industry, so yeah, there's lots of different scenarios we're currently looking at."
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