After announcing it would be returning to New Zealand after axing its Auckland leg for 2012, Big Day Out organisers have now found a new permanent home for the music festival for its 2014 edition and beyond.
As The Music Network reports, the one-day touring festival’s new home was approved by Auckland Council this morning, signing a five year deal to take up residency at the outdoor Western Springs site for the next five years starting from January 2014.
The 50,000 capacity venue, which has played host to the WOMAD and Pasifika Festivals in recent years, marks a move away from the New Zealand leg’s traditional home at Mt Smart Stadium, which had been the home to Big Day Out from 1994 to 2012, but as organisers were already looking for a change of location ahead of the 2012 Big Day Out being canned.
Auckland Council said it had held discussions with local Grey Lynn residents about holding the Big Day Out in the area and had agreed that despite the disturbance from noise and crowds, the positives outweighed the potential negatives with plans already submitted by Big Day Out organisers to ease traffic, volume, and clean up from the event that will ensure minimal impact on neighbouring properties and residents.
Auckland Mayor Len Brown welcomed the good news of Big Day Out’s new home, telling the NZ Herald: “Any world-class city has a constellation of events to cater for the tastes of all of its residents – young and not-so-young. The relocation to Western Springs would bring this significant music and culture event right into the city for residents and the thousands of visitors it draws to Auckland.” “The relocation [will] bring this significant music and culture event right into the city for residents…” – Auckland Mayor Len Brown
It was believed that New Zealand had seen the last of the Big Day Out after the amputation of the Auckland leg in 2012 due financial struggles, including the cancellation of entire stages and acts as it limped across the country on low ticket sales and expensive bookings (such as Soundgarden and Kanye West) but last April, New Zealand promoter Campbell Smith revealed the good news of its return.
“We have spent the summer working with the Australian Big Day Out team and new American partners, C3, the promoters of other major festivals including Lollapalooza, on a plan to bring this thing back to life in New Zealand,” said Smith at the time, also promising a lineup “designed specifically for its New Zealand audience.”
The NZ Herald also revealed a proposed map of the Big Day Out’s layout at Western Springs, with a three-stage set up with “plans [that] show the main stage in the stadium will be a double stage, having two alternating sides, as has been the BDO tradition… and for music to run from midday to 11pm – gates will open at 11am.”
(image courtesy of The New Zealand Herald)
The Big Day Out has also found a new permanent residence for the Gold Coast leg of the festival, with the Metricon Stadium set to host the popular one-day festival after Big Day Out CEO Adam Zammit and Queensland’s Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Jann Stuckey, secure a last minute five-year deal with the Queensland government that would see them fronting the bill for the relocation after seemingly evicted the festival from its regular site at the Parklands Showgrounds as it underwent transformation to become an athletes’ village for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In related news, yesterday it was reported that Laneway Festival would be relocating for its 2014 edition to Fremantle after outgrowing its original Perth location.
