Events In History
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31 December 1996First Gathering dance festival held
On New Year’s Eve around 4000 people made their way to the remote location of Canaan Downs, Tākaka, to take part in the first Gathering, a two-day festival for electronic dance music fans. Read more...
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5 February 1994First Big Day Out in New Zealand
The Big Day Out, an Australian franchise based on the successful Lollapalooza model, brought alternative, hard rock, hip hop and, more recently, dance acts together in a one-day festival in Auckland. Read more...
Articles
Rock music festivals
After a hesitant beginning in the early 1970s, rock festivals hit their stride with Nambassa, Sweetwaters and a string of smaller events in the early 1980s. Following a period of decline, festivals are today as popular as ever with Laneway, WOMAD and others catering to a wide range of musical taste.
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Page 2 – Beginnings
The early rock music festivals held in Auckland and Ngaruawahia reflected the troubled emergence of teenagers as a distinctive group and economic force in the second half of
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Page 3 – Nambassa
No-one predicted the success of the 1979 Nambassa Festival which drew over 65,000 fans.
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Page 4 – Sweetwaters and beyond
Sweetwaters - Festival of Music, Culture and Technology. There was a lot to that new tagline. It had the future in it. A modernity echoed by the band line-up. Having come
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Page 5 – The lights go down
From the late 1980s into the 1990s small scale and sharply focused rock music festivals would be the norm, though there were some notable exceptions
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Page 6 – Festivals galore
As the new century dawned it was clear music festivals were now a viable and often long-running proposition. WOMAD, the Big Day Out and others continue to attract huge crowds
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Page 7 – Rock music festivals 1970-2010
List of the main rock music festivals held in New Zealand between 1970 and 2010
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Page 8 – Further information
Links and books relating to New Zealand's rock music festivals
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Main image: Crowd at the Sweetwaters festival
Sweetwaters festival site featuring a natural amphitheater