More NZ Festivals Headed For Sellout

Ticket sales for Northern Bass (Dec. 29-31), which hit capacity in the last two years, are moving strongly enough for festival director Gareth Popham to be confident that it would repeat the feat a third year. Its acts include the UK’s Chase & Status, Hudson Mohawk, Calyx & Teebee, JME Bad Company UK and Goldie vs dBridge, alongside Oakland’s Souls of Mischief and Canada’s Lunice, alongside major NZ acts Concord Dawn, Scribe & P-Money and Che Fu.

The Chance The Rapper-headlined Rhythm and Vines (Dec. 29-31) is also heading to fill out its 15,000 capacity shortly, says CEO Kieran Spillane of Rhythm Group. Spillane capped the crowd in 2013 as its sister festival Rhythm & Alps grew in size.

Two of R&V’s campsites are already sold out.

He adds, “We are very much encouraged by the overall level of positivity surrounding R&V this year. We are seeing a large increase in demand for tickets for this year’s event.

The fifth reggae-roots East Coast Vibes (Jan. 28) is also confident of a strong turnout of 5,000 after a new partnership with local promoter Pato Entertainment (which runs the One Love festival in February) “has enabled us to bring high calibre international artists that we couldn’t otherwise access,” said founder Rob Coe-Tipene

Among headliners are UK’s Black Slate, California’s Big Mountain and Hawaii-based “pacific reggae” pioneer George “Fiji” Veikoso.