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Mars packs Wailea Beach | News, Sports, Jobs

Hawaii-born entertainer Bruno Mars performs at the Grand Wailea during a private concert on Wednesday night. When word of the performance spread, Maui residents flocked to the beach fronting the hotel, hoping to get a glimpse of the star. GIACOMO COPPI photo

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Maui residents and visitors flocked to Wailea Beach fronting the Grand Wailea Resort on Wednesday night to see the world-famous, Hawaii-born Bruno Mars perform at a private event complete with a fireworks show as the finale.

Chelsea Livit, director of public relations for the Grand Wailea, said Thursday it is “purely a guess,” but estimated there could have been 8,000 to 10,000 people, including invited guests on the hotel grounds and noninvited fans on the public beach for the not-so-private show.

The private event was held for a corporation, but she could not confirm the name. Concertgoers said the event was for SAP, which according to its website “is the world’s business software market leader” with more than 96,000 employees. Its customers include candy company Hershey; energy company Shell; and Avocados From Mexico, the U.S. company that markets avocados for importers, growers and packers.

An SAP spokesperson could not be reached for comment Thursday.

There was lots of security, including Maui police and firefighters, the Coast Guard and state Department of Land and Natural Resources officers, as well as hotel and private security.

Locals and visitors jammed Wailea Beach on Wednesday night to try to get a glimpse of entertainer Bruno Mars, who was performing at a private event at the Grand Wailea. JAN ANDERSON photo

Beach access remained open.

Maui resident BJ Sulusi went to see the concert from the beach and said it felt like there were more than a thousand people with her. “They were all over the place,” she said in a Facebook message, noting it was a mix of locals, but mostly tourists.

“His voice was so clear. We were not able to see him from the beach, but you could somewhat see the big screens,” she said.

Upcountry resident Carlene Dela Cruz and sister, Tristan DeCoite, also saw Mars from the beach.

“It was good, for free,” Dela Cruz said.

She added, though, that those who went to see the performer at one of his concerts on Oahu last year definitely got a better show. Mars, a Grammy award-winning artist, played at three sold-out shows at Aloha Stadium in November as part of his 24K Magic World Tour.

“There was a lot of people. When it got close to him playing around 9 o’clock. . . . it was like elbow to elbow,” Dela Cruz said of the beach crowd.

They couldn’t hear Mars when he was speaking for the most part, but could hear him sing clearly. She said the crowd was mostly standing and listening.

“A lot of the young people were really excited,” Dela Cruz said.

She said she did hear Mars say: ”Maui, you are so quiet.”

The sisters parked at the Shops at Wailea and ate dinner there before heading to the beach. They left before the concert was over.

Those who left at the conclusion of the show had a more difficult time departing, Dela Cruz said. Her husband, who works at the shopping center, told her that it took some people a half-hour to get out after the concert.

She said security was tight at the hotels they walked through to get to the beach, but security did direct people to the beach to see the concert.

There were some Maui residents lucky enough to score tickets to the private event. One of them was Tali Silifaiva, a guest services manager at the nearby Fairmont Kea Lani.

“I was one of the lucky ones to get in front of the stage,” said Silifaiva.

He said he received an invitation because SAP event guests stay at various Wailea resorts, including the Fairmont. Silifaiva has been a guest of the company in the past and has seen performances by Maroon 5 and Katy Perry.

“It was so fun,” Silifaiva said. “It was amazing, all the lights. It was really nice. So happy to see a local boy like that to make it big.”

The stage, which in the past did not face the beach, was turned toward the ocean this time, allowing the public to watch, Silifaiva said.

Mars performed for about 1.5 hours, including an encore number. Silifaiva was not sure everyone at the concert knew who Mars was, but said that he and his wife enjoyed the concert.

He noticed lots of security, noting that the SAP event brings “thousands” to Maui.

Another concertgoer, Kerry Wasano, director of bands at Maui High School, called it “a really good concert.” He was about 20 feet from the stage.

“To an extent, they did make it available for people to see,” he said.

Wasano and five Maui High School music program staff were invited to the concert. More than 100 students from the Maui High band, color guard and choir performed at an SAP gathering Monday.

The high school groups performed as SAP CEO, Bill McDermott, was introduced, Wasano said.

“And it wasn’t just we went up and did stuff. (It was) stuff we had been working on since December,” he added. “We were working on this one short performance for at least a couple of months.”

Wasano didn’t know about the Bruno Mars perk until recently.

Not everyone was a fan of the concert. Some complained about beach access being blocked for a private event and the large security presence.

The county closed the parking lots to a few Wailea beach parks Wednesday at the request of the Maui Police Department, “in an abundance of caution and to protect the public’s health and safety,” said county spokesman Chris Sugidono on Thursday.

The parking lots were closed at 4 p.m., though the parks remained open until their regular closing time of 7 p.m., he said.

“County officials would never consider closing parks or any beach access for a private event,” he said. “However, due to the estimated crowd of 10,000 people, police requested the closure a few hours early to ensure public safety and establish emergency access.”

The parking lot closures were coordinated with the Maui Police Department, the Maui Fire Department and the Wailea Community Association, he said.

DLNR said members of its Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement were on hand to assist police, who reached out for assistance, said Dan Dennison, senior communications manager for the DLNR, on Thursday.

Eight division officers assisted with crowd control on the beach, which is under state jurisdiction.

At no time was beach access denied, Dennison said.

The U.S. Coast Guard had a cutter anchored offshore along with a smaller vessel for nearshore patrols. The Fire Department had a personal watercraft deployed as well.

Dennison said the resort had its own and private security, Maui police and state sheriffs.

Shoreline activist Kai Nishiki was concerned about adequate beach access during the event, including the possibility of beach parks and parking lots being closed. She said she was looking into permits for the event.

Nishiki compared people supporting concert organizers to the old “plantation mentality, the benevolent plantation owners of the past.”

“Now we have the visitor industry, benevolent plantation owners,” who people are thanking for allowing the public to look over at their private property.

“I’m not hating on Bruno Mars,” she said, adding that she understands and supports those who sought to enjoy the free concert.

She said she is fighting for the public and protected shoreline access. Without that protected access to the beaches, the public would not have been able to enjoy the concert from the beach, she said.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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Update: 2024-05-19