NZ Responds To Earthquake

New Zealand’s music community quickly responded to the Feb. 22 earthquake in Christchurch that killed 147.

Scores of gigs and festivals became fundraisers. EMI Music ran a number of auctions through trademe.co.nz, which included signed items from Coldplay, Good Charlotte, Massive Attack and more. It also included a meet-and-greet with the Chemical Brothers, who played the country that week.

Websites MusicHype and Amplifier offered downloads from local acts, with MusicHype stating that tracks started flooding in “minutes after we launched.”

Neil Diamond, in the country for three shows, posted a link to the NZ Red Cross appeal. As reported previously in Pollstar, Queens of the Stone Age scrapped the Christchurch show two days later but made it to Wellington.

U.S. bands the Melvins and High On Fire played Al’s Bar in Christchurch the night before and were checking in to their flight to Wellington at 12:51 p.m. when the 6.3-magnitude temblor hit. They were stranded when the airport was evacuated. After postponing the rest of the tour by two days, they traveled to Wellington by ferry and to Auckland by plane.