Coldplay lives in Singapore.
Photo: GIN TAY / AFP

Coldplay will perform the first of their three Auckland shows at Eden Park on Wednesday night, with 150,000 fans descending on the supercity over the next few days.

Measures are in place to get travelers to and from the event.and police will patrol outside the stadium to keep concertgoers safe.

Excitement for the concerts was growing, with fans looking forward to hearing their favorite songs live on stage as part of Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres world tour.

One concertgoer told RNZ the power in the city was electric.

“We went and saw them in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, and when we were booking the tickets we said, wildly and spontaneously, ‘let’s go to New Zealand’, so here we are.

“It feels like the city is excited, right, and excited about it, and it’s on TV, and you’ve got things on the ground, so I think Auckland has already put on a show.”

Hotels were rapidly reaching capacity and Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck said it was good news for business.

“We know that hotel occupancy is high this week, which is exciting for the hotel sector. We are expected to exceed 90 percent on Friday and several operators are telling us that they are already full.

“Overall the accommodation sector is not yet back to pre-Covid levels so it is a big boost for them to have a week like this with high occupancy levels.”

Beck said they had also seen an increase in foot traffic in the city.

“It’s really exciting – events like these are really gold, and the city is buzzing, it’s fantastic.”

Viv Beck.
Photo: Supplied / HOTC

Auckland Transport’s Rachel Kara said the bus and rail network was prepared to carry the freight.

“Free train and bus travel to Eden Park is included in the concert ticket, from 3pm until the end of the service,” he said.

“And we have over 90 extra buses on Wednesdays and Fridays, and over 100 extra buses on Saturdays, plus trains running with extra capacity so we can get customers where they need to go.”

He said there was also a walking trail for fans from the city to Eden Park, as well as a cycle valet for those cycling to the venue.

That was good news for Portland Public House in Kingsland, where manager Nick Arora said they were expecting busy nights this week.

“We’re completely full tonight, we’re completely full on Friday, we’re completely full on Saturday and we’re expecting a big crowd as well.”

Arora said it was good to have the influx of customers.

“This has been a tough winter for hospitality in general, the weather hasn’t been that great and now that the weather is getting better and we’re getting into more summer, I think things are looking more positive.”

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