Shakes Photo: Supplied
Music in Parks, the Auckland City Council organised free events may well have peaked in public popularity when last week’s Rock the Park saw 12,000 people cramming into Grey Lynn park to see some heavy bands such as Devilskin. The summer series of events see 24 free gigs take place in parks all over the city over a 12 week period and feature artists that span the full range of musical genres.
Music coordinator Leanne Roche says the events are family focused and of course abide by local bylaws.
“Some of them are on 24/7 liquor ban parks for example the Summer Jam concert at Point England, that one was alcohol free. But the rules change depending on the park so while people may bring a few cold ones we just encourage people not to get intoxicated.”
There are many things Auckland residents can and do complain about, traffic and house prices are probably the two most common. But warm weather and Auckland’s multitude of close beaches and occasional events like these can make life in the world’s fourth most unaffordable city in the world worth it.
“All of the legacy councils had music events happening and one of the Auckland city series started about 32 years ago or so. So Music in Parks in its current form has been a long time in the making and I think Auckland has been very fortunate to have free music gigs for a very long time.”
The upcoming Music in Parks events can be found here.
