Eminem shatters more attendance records with Wellington ‘Rapture’ show

After setting a new record for concerts at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with over 80,708 fans, Eminem’s Rapture Tour broke the attendance bar at Westpac Stadium in Wellington with 45,000 on Saturday night.

It is his first show in New Zealand in five years and his second ever in the country.

Venue chief executive Shane Harmon the show also set a new attendance record for the largest ever crowd to attend a single-day event in the stadium.

25,000 of the crowd were from outside the Wellington region – which broke a third attendance, record, this one for drawing the most out-of-region visitors for a Wellington event.

The last one was in 2017 when 20,000 British Lions rugby fans visited the city for a test match against NZ’s All Blacks.

All hotels in Wellington were fully booked out, while restaurants and nightclubs were expecting a roaring trade.

70 more flights into the city were added for the occasion.

Eminem fans began gathering outside the Westpac Stadium gates nine hours before they opened at 5.30 pm, braving the rain.

Road authorities cautioned motorists using the State Highway One of delays of 90 minutes and pleaded with fans to take public transport.

TV cameras speaking to fans saw Courtenay Miller, who travelled with her partner from Canterbury, announce that she planned to get an Eminem tattoo when she got home.

She got her first tattoo at age 12 is of Eminem’s former band D12.

The Westpac Stadium show sold out in 15 minutes last October.

A limited number of extra tickets held back for production and tour requirements were released by promoter TEG Dainty to the public a few days earlier because of continued demand.

The first was in 2014 at Auckland’s Western Springs Stadium which sold out with 49,000 and was also the venue’s fastest-selling show of all time.