A critical and commercial sensation in their home country of New Zealand, Kiwi five pieceSIX60 continuously break records for ticket sales, chart-topping albums & singles and newinnovative ways of getting their music to their fans. But outside of their antipodean environs,they were less well-known. That is, until a string of concerts last year changed the band’strajectory on the global stage forever. The nationwide tour known as ‘SIX60 Saturdays’culminated in the band playing to over 50,000 people at Auckland’s Eden Park Stadium -and they were the only band performing live to crowds anywhere in the world at the time.
During the earlier stages of the pandemic, New Zealand found itself for a time in the enviableposition of almost zero cases of Covid-19 while the rest of the globe was in lockdown. Thismeant that Kiwi’s national band, SIX60, were now “The World's Biggest Live Act”, accordingto Billboard. Within days, the band were seen across news screens and papers throughoutEurope, Asia, Africa and The Americas. They were featured on live TV, radio and pressacross the globe: BBC News highlighted that the shows are “just unimaginable right now -the rock band SIX60 are out every weekend playing to thousands of fans” in their extendedsegment on the band, ITV’s Good Morning Britain also featured the band, withthen-presenter Piers Morgan citing them as “the hottest band in the world right now”. NMEfeatured the band, interviewing Matiu for a feature which noted that the band are “currentlythe planet’s biggest touring band”, and CLASH Magazine reviewed the show - the only livemusic review on the planet at the time: “SIX60 are riding high and don’t look like they’ll bestopping any time soon”. In a lead interview in The Telegraph newspaper, the band’s show atAuckland’s Eden Park stadium was named ”the biggest gig since Covid began”. The showwas the most-shared entertainment story in the world that week - despite taking place thesame weekend as The Oscars.
