'It's the first time the sold out sign has gone up'

Even Limp Bizkit's promoter can't believe he sold every single ticket to the nu-metal act's Auckland show.

He looked at the numbers. He did the calculations.

He sized up the costs, then weighed up the risks.

Then he went further, checking music streaming services to see if New Zealanders were still enjoying their music.

He even watched recent shows on YouTube and read the reviews to make sure the band was in good form.

“We want to make sure they haven’t gone downhill,” he says. “We want to make sure that the punters are getting their absolute money's worth.”

Before Paul Brommer booked Limp Bizkit to perform at Spark Arena on November 26, he also made sure there was no competition, that no other big rock or metal bands were playing in the weeks surrounding his chosen date.

Brommer believed he and his six-strong team at Good Vibes Promotions had put enough work in to know that a Limp Bizkit show in Auckland in 2023 would do OK.

“I was just [hoping to] break even,” he says.

Even then it was a gamble.

In 2018, Brommer was part of the team that put together Storm the Gates, a West Auckland music festival that featured Limp Bizkit alongside Sublime with Rome, Suicidal Tendancies and Hed (PE).

It was no walk in the park. With several major events on over the same weekend, they struggled for numbers. The reviews weren’t great. Some complained about sound quality. “Downright sloppy,” said The 13th Floor.

“We learned a lot from that that venture,” says Brommer.

It didn’t put him off. In late September, Brommer signed the contract and began selling $190 tickets to a Limp Bizkit concert in Auckland.

Three weeks later, all of them – close to 8000 with Spark Arena in “free flow” mode – were sold out.

How’d that feel?

“I didn’t think Limp Bizkit would sell that many,” says Brommer, who promised to buy his team chicken wings to celebrate.

He laughs, then admits: “I’ll be honest: It's the first time the 'sold out' sign has gone up. “It was such an awesome feeling.”

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‘Limp Bizkit … can make you want to shake shit off’

How the hell did this happen?

That’s the question I’d called Brommer to answer.

I didn’t understand how, in 2023, two decades past their prime, 20 years since anyone cared about nu-metal, after the Netflix documentary debacle and this podcast, the band responsible for ‘Nookie’ was playing its biggest New Zealand show since the infamous 2001 Big Day Out tour.

It’s a question I asked over and over again in this piece…

The answer I came to basically amounted to ‘WTF?’

Up until calling Brommer, no one was able to offer me anything better.

But Brommer believes he has the answers.

He was ready to give them up as soon as he answered his phone.

The first reason? “Nostalgia. It’s just … it’s there,” he says. “We're noticing people really, really want to have a have a good night out. And, while times have been tough, it's still a bit of a need.”

He believes Covid lockdowns helped drive demand for bands from back in the day. It’s why last summer was full of festivals headlined by 90s acts like Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada and Basement Jaxx.

People want to see artists they already have a connection with. That’s why Brommer’s just announced Live and Incubus on the same bill for two shows here in April.

But there’s another reason that might be even more important.

Guitars are back, baby.

“We're just starting to see more interest in rock, really,” says Brommer.

While summer is full of festivals headlined by drum n bass and dance acts, there aren’t many options for those wanting to rock out.

“Right now, for rockers, you've got Foo Fighters, Matchbox 20, Queens of the Stone Age or Royal Blood,” he says. “It’s, like, a handful. It’s a bit of fresh air, if you get my drift.”

He has one final reason that I can’t argue with: after Covid, everyone wants to cut loose. “Limp Bizkit is loud. It can make you want to shake shit off,” he says.

So, come Sunday, November 26, Brommer expects Spark Arena to be full of fans ready to do exactly that. “It’s either a dad that’s taught his son how to play a couple of the albums on guitar, early 20-year-olds that have just discovered Fred Durst with an afro on TikTok, or a lot of 35-year-olds [with their] red caps and chain wallets.”

It’s possible, Brommer says, that this is New Zealand’s last chance to see Limp Bizkit live. “They’re a busy band,” he says. A promoter would say that, but he doesn’t need to: tickets are sold out, and are going for much more than face value on TradeMe.

Brommer’s trying to open up more space in Spark Arena so he can release more tickets. He hopes to able to confirm that in the coming days.

Further ahead, Brommer promises there is more guitar-based nostalgia coming our way. He’s already toured Papa Roach and Unwritten Law this year. He tried, but couldn’t quite land, Fall Out Boy. And he’s eyeing up Sum 41’s “final” world tour.

He says he’s about to announce an even bigger act, but I can’t tease the name out of him. “If I say that publicly my competitors will straight away go for them,” he says.

When I suggest it might be Pearl Jam, he shakes his head. They’re not really touring much, he says. It’s true: just one postponed date is listed on the band’s website.

But he does offer a tease. “We try and cover everyone: the pop-punks, the rock, the metal,” he says. “If you can just try and think of anything big from the Channel Z days ... that's about all I can say.”

In the meantime, Brommer owes his team a feed: he still hasn’t bought them those chicken wings like he promised he would for selling out the Limp Bizkit show.

“I haven’t yet, nah,” he says. But he knows they deserve them, and he promises they’ll be on the menu one night soon.

“It’s taken a few gigs to get here. The team has worked so hard,” he says.

“This is how you do it. You work together and nail it.”

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