My one-man protest starts today. I won't stop until I get some answers.

We need big artists, major shows and large-scale touring to return to Aotearoa – immediately.

Mōrena.

A little over a week ago, the line-up for Fridayz Live was announced. The long-running hip-hop and R&B festival confirmed glass-cracking songstress Mariah Carey would headline this year’s event, alongside Pitbull, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Jon and Eve, among others. Sounds like a great throwback party! It always has been: the event has changed names over the years, but it has delivered Janet Jackson, Usher, Macklemore and the Black Eyed Peas to tens of thousands of happy punters at Spark Arena and Western Springs in the past.

Yet, for its first festival in two years, there is one major change: Fridayz Live is no longer an Australasian festival – it’s an Australian festival. No New Zealand dates are confirmed. After taking 2024 off, the website for the Auckland leg declares, “We’re back,” but the line-up and dates have been left blank. Instead, the festival appears to be heading to Brisbane, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne exclusively in October, completely skipping Aotearoa. (Frontier Touring confirms: “Just Australia this year.”)

No, you’re not.

Mariah Carey once sang, “I’ll be there for you,” but, for all of her Aotearoa fans, that’s simply not true. She’s not coming here, despite “wowing” fans in 2014, and owing us a show after cancelling a 2018 performance. Yet Carey is far from the only artist skipping Aotearoa. Over the past year, the number of acts sidestepping us has gone from a weird anomaly to a worrying trend to a terrifying blitzkrieg: Taylor Swift, Oasis, Billie Eilish, Green Day, The Killers, Katy Perry, Korn and Kylie Minogue are just some of the names giving us a miss. Many of those artists have played here before, very successfully.

Not anymore. Sometimes, this trend has created bizarre situations. The Weeknd sold out two Eden Park shows, then postponed them, then cancelled them, but rescheduled and played all of his Australian shows. Olivia Rodrigo apparently booked a Spark Arena show then cancelled it before selling a single ticket, yet she still toured Australia for her first time down under. Drake booked two Spark Arena shows, then changed the dates, then postponed them, but still played most of his Australian shows. He is yet to reschedule his shows here. (“There is no update,” Live Nation told me.)

Drake in Australia. Photo: Supplied.

Others have announced shows, only to cancel them. Xzibit, Nelly, Blink-182, Tenacious D and Public Enemy all did this. Childish Gambino was set to play Spark Arena, then cancelled it over an injury. Festivals aren’t faring much better. Bay Dreams and Splore remain on hiatus. Nest Fest is gone. Morningside Bloc Party is gone. Juicy Fest is gone. Timeless Tour is gone. Right now, the only major stadium show we have booked for 2025 is Metallica; the only festival to confirm a line-up for 2025 is The Others Way.

Major tours are getting booked for Australia: Lady Gaga, Oasis, Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Justice and Doechii will all tour across the Tasman before the year is out. Smaller acts are heading there as well: Supergrass, Franz Ferdinand, Soccer Mommy and Black Star are all on their way. Our only option is to sit here seething with jealousy, spend huge chunks of cash to travel, or jump on one of the A320s permanently relocating hundreds of New Zealanders every day. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this sucks.)

Put all that together and the future of major shows in Aotearoa seems … grim. So, I’ve had enough. I’m over it. I’m done. This needs to stop. We have a lengthy tradition of showing up for major artists. From ZZ Top, Bob Marley, Dire Straits, David Bowie and Eminem at Western Springs to Adele, U2, Ed Sheeran, Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift at Mt Smart Stadium to Six60, Guns N Roses, Pink and Coldplay at Eden Park, we have sold out major shows by big artists time and again. Despite the economic downturn, our dumbass government making everything worse and a continuing cost-of-living crisis, I’d wager we’d still do so if the opportunity was there.

Pink at Eden Park. Photo: DunedinNZ.

There must be a reason why all these tours aren’t coming here. Discussions have been had. Decisions have been made. It’s time we got some answers. Why has this changed? Who is making these decisions? What can we do about it? Who’s to blame? Who do I point the finger at when I’m telling my daughter she can’t see her favourite artists because they won’t come here? She is 11, and she has, quite literally, shed tears over not being able to see Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo in concert.

I don’t blame her. I feel like crying too. So, starting today, I’m digging my heels in. I'm chucking my toys. I'm putting a stake in the ground. I've had enough. It’s time for someone to explain to Aotearoa music fans why this keeps happening, who is responsible, and when it will change. Until we do, I’m going to try and find some answers. I have a series of stories planned over the coming weeks that attempt to explain this shitty, stupid, unnecessary boycott of Aotearoa by major artists.

It won’t all be serious. I promise we’ll have some fun along the way. But we can’t change anything unless we keep talking about it, right? No one else is going to do it, so this is why this newsletter exists, and this is exactly what I intend to do. Please, let me know how you’re feeling about it…

-Chris

Read part two: A live music mess: how did we end up in this sad, sorry state?

Kia ora and welcome to Boiler Room, a reader-supported newsletter that recently won the Taite Prize for music journalism. I could only do that thanks to those that contribute. If you’d like to join them in supporting independent media, you can do that below. I’ll be back soon with a timeline on how we got into this mess. Stay safe, stay strong. I’ll see you then.

Bonus beat.