Toto + Dragon New Zealand Tour Announced

US pop-rock icons Toto are returning to Aotearoa this coming January, for a four-date summer tour alongside New Zealand rock legends Dragon. Neither groups are lacking in the hits department, Toto's evergreen early eighties chart-topper 'Africa' (from Toto IV) has had a second life an online favourite, while 'Rosanna' and 'Hold The Line' are toe-tapping staples of many a karaoke singalong. Dragon's 'Rain' gets the party going in any context, while the long-running band's discography yields both unforgettable tunes and hidden gems, including 'April Sun In Cuba', 'Are You Old Enough", 'Dreams Of Ordinary Men' and 'Darkness'.

Toto have recently been making waves recording a tit-for-tat cover of Weezer, and earlier this year dropped a greatest hits package titled 40 Trips Around The Sun, featuring three new songs from the core team of Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Joseph Williams. The organisers promise an enticingly mysterious additional headliner will be added to the bill, as part of a new annual summer concert series called A Summer’s Day Live. Check out the tour details...

UPDATE 11/10/18: California rock legends Jefferson Starship have been announced to join the already massive bill for all four dates...

Toto + Jefferson Starship + Dragon 

Wednesday 9th January – ASB Bay Park, Mount Maunganui
Thursday 10th January, 2019 – Church Road, Napier
Friday 11th January – TSB Bowl Of Brooklands, New Plymouth
Sunday 13th January – Hagley Park, Christchurch

Here's the iconic video for Toto's 'Africa'...

Watch the rockin' vintage clip for Toto's 'Hold The Line'...

Vibe out to Dragon's still fantastic early eighties song 'Rain'...

Here's Dragon playing their fist-pumping mid-eighties hit 'Dreams Of Ordinary Men' on Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday...

Press release:

TOTO - The legends behind some of the most iconic songs in history - are set to tour New Zealand early next year.

Presented by Neptune Entertainment and The Breeze, the TOTO tour will be the first-ever in what will be an annual summer concert series called ‘A Summer’s Day Live’, which will feature major international artists from the past four decades.

The concert series will see US act TOTO play shows at ASB Bay Park in Mount Maunganui on January 9; Church Road in Napier on January 10; TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth on January 11 and Hagley Park in Christchurch on January 13.

Kiwi favourites, Dragon, will support TOTO, with another exciting headliner still to be announced.

It’s without question, that TOTO are currently in the middle of a major resurgence around the world. Loved for hits such as ‘Rosanna’, ‘Africa’ and ‘Hold The Line’, the band has released 17 studio albums, and sold more than 40 million records worldwide, since forming in the 1970s.

Their recent greatest hits record, 40 TRIPS AROUND THE SUN, debuted in the Top 40 in eight countries. The 17-track album features three new recordings; ‘Spanish Sea’, ‘Alone’ and ‘Struck By Lightning’, alongside newly-remastered classic tracks worked on by Elliot Scheiner and Gavin Lurssen and his team. The core TOTO members, Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Joseph Williams re-entered the studio last year to work on the release.

TOTO have also toured extensively on the back of the release, performing to packed houses across Europe, including sold out shows at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam and the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Promoter Toby Burrows says Neptune Entertainment is excited to have secured such an iconic band to launch the ‘A Summer’s Day Live’ series: “We have been wanting to bring TOTO to NZ for some time, and being able to place them in amazing outdoor venues in the heart of summer is the perfect fit”.

Kiwi rockers Dragon are also a major drawcard for the concert series. As the band behind hits such as ‘April Sun in Cuba’, ‘Are You Old Enough’, ‘Rain’ and ‘Still In Love With You’, Dragon are one of New Zealand’s most popular live acts.

They were inducted into the New Zealand Hall of Fame in 2011 and with Todd Hunter and Marc William at the helm, they have continued to delight Kiwi crowds wherever they play.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the third and final act, completing a talent-packed trifecta for your ultimate summer’s day.