A New Zealand band revelling in the exposure that comes with opening for Sir Elton John have have been booted off the bill after waking the rock legend from a nap.
Hawkes Bay outfit Badger was one of four bands to prime the crowd at last week’s concert in Napier for the touring 72-year-old.
But their set was cut 15 minutes early when an irritated Sir Elton came out of his dressing room asking “what’s that racket?”
“After we got off, the stage manager came up to us and said, ‘Elton’s not happy’,” Martin Good, Badger’s bass player, told Hawkes Bay Today .
“I think it was probably the drums more than anything that was possibly annoying him while he was trying to sleep.”
John is famous for his ritual of enjoying a pre-gig nap.
Now the four-piece outfit have found themselves cut from the second show.
“We’ve had to re-adjust the schedule for the day and unfortunately can’t fit them in,” Mission Concert manager Garry Craft said.
The concerts are being held at Mission Estate, a picturesque winery on New Zealand’s east coast in a similar style to Australia’s Day On The Green events.
While the schedule has been re-arranged for Saturday’s show, gates will open as normal and Sir Elton is still due to go on stage at the same time.
The only rearrangement is that the four warm-up acts have been condensed to three, with Badger on the outer.
“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank The Mission for having us back again last Thursday,” the band posted on its Facebook page.
Sir Elton has bookended an appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony with the two concerts, dashing off across the Pacific after the first show to play in front of Hollywood’s biggest stars before heading back to New Zealand.
The Englishman won the Academy Award for Best Song for the second time in his career, picking up the award for (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again from the film Rocketman, a biopic on Sir Elton’s own life.
He also won the prize in 1995 for Can You Feel The Love Tonight, one of three nominated songs from animated classic The Lion King.
Sir Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour continues to Auckland and Australia later this month as part of his long-running final tour.
