Vector Arena

Vector Arena
Multi Purpose Venue
Vector Arena from the outside
Location	42-80 Mahuhu Crescent, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand
Coordinates	36°50′50″S 174°46′37″E / 36.8471738°S 174.7769451°E / -36.8471738; 174.7769451Coordinates: 36°50′50″S 174°46′37″E / 36.8471738°S 174.7769451°E / -36.8471738; 174.7769451
Broke ground	2006
Opened	APRIL 2007
Owner	Auckland Council / QPAM
Operator	QPAM LTD
Construction cost	NZ$ 80 million
Capacity	9,000 SEATED 12,000 WITH GA FLOOR
Tenants
New Zealand Breakers (NBL) (2012-)

The arena at night.

The seating inside the arena.

The Arena in a netball setup.

Vector Arena is a 12,000-seat arena for sports and entertainment events in Auckland, New Zealand. Named for a sponsor, Vector Limited,^[1] the arena is located at Quay Park, Parnell, very close to the former Auckland Railway Station. Vector Arena cost around $80 million, and of this sum ratepayers contributed $68 million for the facility to be managed by QPAM, the NZ operator, in New Zealand first big public-private partnership. This runs for 40 years before ownership is transferred to the city.^[1][2]

After delays due to construction-related issues, the arena's first concert was Rock Star Supernova on 24 March 2007.^[3]

Past Events

The venue has since hosted numerous local and international events, with a full list available from the official website. Vector Arena Website^[4]

Music

Concerts are organised by various promoters and some events are in house promoted.

Concerts organised by Live Nation Australia & New Zealand

2007

Rockstar Supernova
Vector Arena Official Opening
Red Hot Chili Peppers (2 nights)
Benny Hinn (2 days)
P!nk performed on her I'm Not Dead Tour at Vector Arena in 2007.
Dalai Lama (2 days)
Guns N Roses (2 nights)
Silver Ferns vs Australia
Burt Bacharach
Gwen Stefani also performed at the venue in 2007.
Bob Dylan
The Cure
Roc Tha Block
Westfield Style Pasifika
Snow Patrol
Steely Dan
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds (2 nights)
Linkin Park (2 nights)
Silverchair & Powderfinger
Crowded House
Beach Boys
Justin Timberlake (3 nights) before ending the FutureSex/LoveShow in Abu Dhabi.
Lionel Richie
My Chemical Romance performed on The Black Parade World Tour in late 2007.

2008

Kings Of Leon performed in 2008.
Rihanna and Chris Brown did 2 shows on the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour before heading to Wellington.
Kylie Minogue brought her KylieX2008 tour to Auckland's Vector Arena for 2 nights in late 2008.

2009

Fall Out Boy performed in Auckland for only one show at the Arena in early 2009.
Coldplay sold-out 2 shows on their huge Viva La Vida Tour in March 2009.
The Pussycat Dolls performed on The Doll Domination Tour with Lady Gaga as their opening act on May 16, 2009. Veteran popular folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel played the first two concerts of their tour to New Zealand, Australia and Japan on 13 and 14 June 2013.
The Black Eyed Peas done a gig in October 2009 on their E.N.D World Tour, with special guests LMFAO.
In December 2009, Green Day performed on the 18th and 19th as part of the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour.

2010

Backstreet Boys performed one show on their This Is Us Tour on 11 March 2010.
2 days later, Lady Gaga returned to New Zealand after only a year for 2 sold-out shows on her Monster Ball Tour on March 13 & 14.
In October 2010, band Paramore performed on their Brand New Eyes Tour at Vector Arena as Trusts Stadium didn't have the preferred capacity.

2011

In 2011, Usher performed on his OMG Tour on April 5 after being rescheduled from March 29.
On April 7 & 8, Katy Perry performed 2 sold-out shows as part of her California Dreams Tour.

2012

Roger Waters performed his The Wall Live here in February, with all four shows selling out.
Taylor Swift came to New Zealand for the first time in 2012 along with Hot Chelle Rae for 3 sold-out shows, ending Taylor's record breaking Speak Now World Tour.
Florence and The Machine performed on their 2 year long Ceremonials Tour on May 28, just 34 tickets away from being sold-out.
Lady Gaga performed 3 sold-out shows on her Born This Way Ball Tour on June 7,8 & 10.
Mumford & Sons performed one show in response to the release of their album Babel (album) on 2 November.
Hot Chelle Rae returned the same year for their Whatever Tour in October with special guest Cher Lloyd.
Nicki Minaj also performed in 2012 on her Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour along with special guest Tyga on November 24.

2013

Red Hot Chili Peppers performed their I'm With You Tour in January, with both of the two shows selling out.
The Script performed one show as part of their #3 World Tour on April 12.
Black Sabbath performed two shows on April 19 and 20 as the first show as part of their reunion tour. In October, Auckland's Vector Arena hosted 3 major concerts. Rihanna returned for 3 Sold-out shows on October 6,7 & 8 as part of her Diamonds World Tour.^[5]
British boyband One Direction played shows on October 12 & 13 for their Take Me Home Tour.^[6]
Beyoncé performed at the Arena for the first time as a solo artist for 4 sold-out shows on October 16, 17, 18 & 19, 2013 with The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. She currently holds the record as the solo artist who drew the highest attendance to the arena in one concert tour, with 44,596 tickets sold.^[7]
On November 29 & 30 and December 1 Taylor Swift performed 3 sold-out shows as part of her Red Tour.
On November 23, Justin Bieber will be performing at the arena as part of his Believe Tour The November 24th show has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.^[8] On December 21 Leonard Cohen will perform at the arena. On 16 december glow will happen

2014

Paramore will be returning for their Self-titled tour on January 19. Live Nation has confirmed Bruno Mars will bring his Moonshine Jungle Tour to Auckland's Vector Arena on March 15, 2014.^[9]
Kim Dotcom The Party Party, Janurary 20th, To celebrate the release of his new album “Good Times” and his birthday. - Recently Canceled

Other Events

Other performers such as comedians Jeff Dunham, Patrick Motion and Russell Brand have performed at the arena. Mike Tyson was due to bring his Day of Champions tour the Vector Arena in 2012, but he was not granted a visa to enter the country due to his previous criminal convictions.

Problems

Delays

Scheduled to open early 2006, this was first delayed towards the end of 2006, when a second opening date was again missed. The delays were apparently due to the Arena's builder, Mainzeal, having various problems with the structure, especially with the roof, where the 120 m main truss had to be strengthened,^[10] and where added insulation to waterproof the building against the humid local climate had to be included. In a related issue, extra ventilation also had to be installed to prevent internal humidity build-up during full-capacity events.^[11] The construction company reportedly faced huge losses on the project,^[2][12] and planned to sue the architects for partial compensation.^[11]

Suitability

Dave Rat, the sound engineer of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, has criticized the sound quality of the venue after the band played concerts in the Arena during April 2007. He noted that the echo from the curved roof was problematic, and that acoustic panels would need to be installed to improve the arena, especially for those listeners on the upper seating levels. He also criticised the polished concrete floors as too slippery for mass events.^[13]

Chris Tate(College Hill Limited), sound designer for Rockstar: Supernova's first concert at the arena, has however noted that the acoustics were better than expected, and could be improved further. It was also noted that such work is already in preparation.^[13]

Sports

Netball

Netball is regularly played at the venue with the New Zealand Silver Ferns playing on several occasions while the ANZ Championship has also used the arena on two occasions since 2010. The arena hosted the 2012 Fast5 Netball World Series.

Professional Wrestling

Since 2008 Vector Arena has also been a regular host of World Wrestling Entertainment's tours of New Zealand, with Raw, SmackDown and ECW all performing at the venue.

Ice Hockey

In 2011 some 10,000 fans saw an Ice Hockey international between Canada and the United States on a $4.2m temporary ice rink.^[14][15]

Basketball

Vector arena announced that it would host its first National Basketball League game on 28 October 2011 when the defending champion (and Auckland based) New Zealand Breakers take on the Sydney Kings in Round 4 of the 2011–12 NBL season. The Arena hosted two more Breakers games during the season, against the Townsville Crocodiles in Round 8 (24 November) and the Kings in Round 17 (27 January 2012).

That first NBL game at Vector Arena drew a New Zealand record crowd for a basketball game when 6,900 saw the NZ Breakers defeat the Kings 76-59.^[16] This record was again broken in Round 17 of the 2011-12 season when 7,979 saw the Breakers again defeat the Kings 93-64.

On 13 March 2012 New Zealand Breakers General Manager Richard Clarke announced that due to the amount of support for the team (which is more than double the capacity of their regular home venue, the 4,400 seat North Shore Events Centre), that all Breakers finals games would be played at Vector Arena with capacity set at 8,500, subject to demand, with extra seating to be sold if needed. The Breakers finished the 2011-12 season as minor premiers giving them home court advantage in the Semi-finals and Grand Final (if they qualified).^[17] The Breakers qualified for the 2011-12 NBL Grand Final against the Perth Wildcats with games 1 and 3 being played at Vector. Game 1 saw the attendance record broken when 9,125 showed to see the Breakers win 104-98 in overtime. With the Wildcats winning game 2 in Perth 87-86, game 3 was required and the NZ Breakers won their second straight NBL Championship with a 79-73 win in front of yet another record attendance of 9,285.

Before the 2012-13 NBL season, the Breakers confirmed that they will play 5 regular season games at Vector Arena. The first game, played in front of 6,625 fans, saw the home side defeat the Adelaide 36ers 73-59 on 12 October. There were four other games at the arena during the regular season, on 16 November (Townsville), 13 December (Cairns Taipans), 1 February 2013 (Perth) and 14 March 2013 (Melbourne Tigers).

The Breakers once again broke their attendance record during Game 1 of the 2012-13 NBL Grand Final series against the Perth Wildcats when a capacity 9,330 fans saw the home team defeat the Wildcats 79-67. The NZ Breakers won their third straight NBL Championship by wrapping up the series with a 70-66 win over the Wildcats in front of 13,527 fans at the Perth Arena.

For the 2013–14 NBL season, the Breakers will play half of their home games at Vector Arena, totaling seven appearance at the arena. These are the season opener against Wollongong (10 October), round six clash against Adelaide (15 November), round seven clash against Townsville (November 22), round 10 clash against Perth (13 December), round 16 clash against Sydney (30 January), round 18 clash against Cairns (14 February) and round 23 clash also against Cairns (21 March). The Breakers will both start and end their ordinary season at Vector Arena.^[18]

The Breakers game against the Adelaide 36ers on 15 November 2013 saw the home sides first ever loss at Vector Arena. The Breakers led 94-93 with just over four seconds of the game remaining, but 36ers point guard Gary Ervin stole the inbound pass and drove the length of the floor to score a layup just before time expired to give the 36ers a 95-94 win in front of 7,470 fans. The Breakers then lost their second game at the venue when they were defeated 71-62 by the Perth Wildcats on 13 December 2013 in front of 7,597 fans.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vector Arena.

• Vector Arena (official website of the arena, including seating plans)
• Vector Arena at Austadiums