Auckland City Council

Media release

21 January 2010

Opshop brings big energy to a little space at ZooMusic

Chart-toppers Opshop are back by popular demand for their second Wild Bean Cafe ZooMusic on Waitangi Day – Saturday, 6 February from 6pm.

Opshop is one of the most talented bands to come out of New Zealand in recent years, with four NZ Music Awards and the APRA Silver Scroll for New Zealand’s song of the year (2008) to its name.

Expect to hear all your old favourites as well as some great new songs from the dynamic four-piece rock band’s upcoming third album at Auckland Zoo’s seventh ‘concerts for conservation’ series.

Music lovers can also look forward to enjoying the expressive vocals of Jonny Love and the finely crafted tunes of Jackie Bristow at this three-hour gig, which is helping raise funds to support the Kashin Elephant Conservation Fund.

Auckland Zoo’s conservation officer Peter Fraser says that the concert is unique because the audience can enjoy a night of top Kiwi music while helping out the world’s largest land animal – the elephant.

“We set up the Kashin Elephant Conservation Fund following Kashin’s passing so that we could earmark funds just for Asian elephants. Every cent we raise for the Kashin Elephant Conservation Fund goes to help protect elephants in the wild.

”Auckland Zoo already supports elephant-related projects in Sumatra and Thailand, and we’re planning to expand our support further in the future. The greatest threat to elephants is habitat loss and the resulting human-animal conflict. The reality today is that Asian elephant populations are extremely fragmented across about 13 countries with very few viable populations left, making this an endangered species that urgently needs our help,” says Mr Fraser.

Opshop’s Clint Harris is encouraging Aucklanders to come along to what promises to be a great night out.

“We played here a couple of years ago supporting Greg Johnson – it was an awesome night with such a relaxed family atmosphere,” he says.

A great day and night out – a ZooMusic ticket is also entry to the zoo on concert day so music lovers can come early and explore at their leisure. However, the zoo will be cleared at 5.30pm for set-up.

Wild Bean Cafe ZooMusic 2010 is supported by TV3, The Radio Network, Sunday Star-Times, iSite Media, Montana and RAW. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster and Auckland Zoo.

Visit www.aucklandzoo.co.nz for full Wild Bean Cafe ZooMusic details.

ENDS

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