1973: The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival

January 8, 2025

By AHNZ

Tonight in New Zealand history, 8 January, 1973, Black Sabbath wrapped up the Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival. This was our version of Woodstock, New Zealand’s first significant outdoor music event, attracting 18,000 people.

Mainstream Boomers were into their Hippy or Country music. Festival organisers Barry Coburn and Robert Raymond were offering an alternative. Ngaruawahia would be for the counter-culture.

In order to achieve this, Coburn travelled to England to secure Black Sabbath. At the London mansion of their manager his first encounter was with  “a mouthy young woman in her late teens,” the future Sharon Osbourne. Having struck an informal deal, Coburn then needed to go to New York to make it legal. In order to make Black Sabbath happen for Ngaruawahia he also needed to extend himself by committing to organising an Australian tour as well; This he did.

Black Sabbath became the final act, the culmination and draw for the entire Festival.

Coburn was barely in his 20s at the time but already an alpha in the music business. He also managed a new band named Split Ends but perhaps not very well. He placed his band directly prior to the headliners, Black Sabbath, for maximum exposure. And, he placed them right after the New Zealand Maori Company perhaps in hopes that his band would be a welcome relief?

This plan did not work. The Split Ends had a few evolutions ahead of them until they came into their power as Split Enz. They were basically hated and booed off stage, asked to leave. The band describes the outcome as “depressing.” Ref. RNZ (2017)

“I scheduled Black Sabbath to play midnight on the Saturday of the festival, ‘coincidentally’ after Split Ends who I was managing. Earlier that day I was summoned by Black Sabbath with the request for the burning cross…At midnight the cross was lit as the band took the stage. Sabbath played most of their early material – Iron Man, Sweet Leaf and closed with Paranoid. The crowd were also treated to a rarely performed song, Changes. They loved it.” – Barry Coburn, NZ Herald (2011)

“Going to a mansion on the edge of Wimbledon Common, I saw vans were loading in lush purple carpet. I noticed that the carpet had been perfectly cut with perfect gold trim. This opulence didn’t go unnoticed, and I was greeted by a mouthy young woman in her late teens. “Did my daughter, Sharon, look after you?” was how Black Sabbath’s manager, Don Arden, greeted me. “I need to make it clear I am only interested in you taking Sabbath if you can do Australia as well.” I agreed. I hadn’t toured acts in Australia before, but if it meant securing Black Sabbath for the Ngaruawahia Music Festival, I would do it.” – ibid

“Nudity, onstage and off, provided salacious fodder for the mainstream media. It was the primary focus of a feature in the Sunday Times. “Oh! Oh! Naked Ngaruawahia!” gasped the headline as photos depicted unclothed women unselfconsciously drinking beer, flashing peace signs enjoying the festival.” – Audio Culture (2020)

““Woodstock Planned In Waikato” ran the headline in the New Zealand Herald. It had been a long time coming. Three years after the epochal Woodstock festival in upstate New York, New Zealand was still waiting for a Woodstock of its own.” – ibid

The Festival was marked by nudity both on the part of performers and those attending. Perhaps for publicity or just artistic madness led the lead singer for BLERTA to strip naked on stage. This led to charges. Not knowing where to point their cameras, the media ended up publishing nude Festival guests which moral crusader Patricia Bartlett complained about. Marcia Russell, editor of Thursday magazine and self-described ‘Square’ said there was an enormous picnic atmosphere including the families and children. And, that any number of people were not wearing clothes on the hot sticky day. Russell was saying this under oath as the court investigated Bartlett’s accusations. Ref. Press (1974,) Papers Past

Ozzy Osbourne called out ahead of the final song of their set (Paranoid) that “We love you! And we’ve never seen such a beautiful place before. Really mean that.” Touring artists always say things like that to flatter their local audience. And we always believe them because, after all, this was certainly true.

Black Sabbath spent about 6 days in New Zealand before heading off to Australia. I wonder what else they got up to while here?

At any rate, Sabbath had been employed to help mainstream some new hard-core youth culture in New Zealand that wasn’t Country or Pop or Disco. They understood the mission, adding in a fiery cross to light their taking the stage, and got it done. Thankfully someone had come along to set the destiny of the nation along a harder edge.

Without that our national character becomes like Luke Skywalker rather than Han Solo. Superman rather than Batman. Scott Summers rather than Wolverine. Leonardo rather than Raphael. New Zealand was in danger of being an all-Fred Scooby-Doo Gang without any Scrappy.

Least we turn into a bunch of Chesdale-Cheese Constable-Keith Cup-of-Tea Canadians or something…Black Sabbath was our Dark Anarchic midwife.

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Image ref. Bruce Jarvis Collection, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections

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