Music festivals have a long and chequered history in New Zealand. The first large outdoor rock music festival was The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival in 1973. The largest was the 1979 Nambassa festival, one of several Nambassa festivals held around that time, in Golden Valley, just north of Waihi.
"There are regular jazz, folk, ethnic and country music awards and festivals, some of which have been in existence for decades. Large music festivals, for example Sweetwaters Music Festivals, Nambassa and The Big Day Out have been staged periodically since the 1970s", says Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
Parachute Music Festival is a Christian music festival held in New Zealand. It was one of New Zealands largest music festivals and it is the Southern Hemispheres largest Christian music festival. On March 27, 2014 Parachute Music released a statement on its Facebook and its website announcing that Parachute Music Festival would no longer be running.
Nambassa 1979 was the largest music event in New Zealand. "Nearly 60,000 came, making it, per capita, the world’s largest festival of its type." "Nambassa will be remembered for many things. It was the largest campsite, the biggest and brightest party, and the best attended and most successful musical and cultural event ever in New Zealand."
Festival One - 2005 - Present - Christian Music Festival
A Low Hum - 2006-2014 - Small music festival in Wellington each year over Waitangi Weekend. 50 bands over 3 or 4 days.
Highlife NYE Experience - Auckland
Homegrown - Wellington
Luminate Festival - Pikikirunga, Golden Bay, Nelson
New Zealand International Jazz & Blues Festival - 1999–present, Christchurch, New Zealand
Northern Bass - Mangawhai.
Parihaka International Peace Festival - 2006–present - The farmland close to the Parihaka Marae is turned into a festival.
Queenstown Winter Festival - Queenstown
Rhythm & Alps - unknown-present - in Cardrona Valley near Wanaka.
Rhythm & Vines - 2003–present - vineyard near Gisborne.
Soundscape (New Zealand festival) - 2010–present - Hamilton CBD.
Splore - Tapapakanga Regional Park. Ten years festival.
St Jerome's Laneway Festival - 2010–present - Auckland
Swampfest - 2004–present - Palmerston North's Globe Theatre.
Big Day Out - 1994-1997, 1999-2012, 2014 - Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland.
Big Gay Out - Pt Chevalier, Auckland.
Brown Trout Festival - 1980, 1983 - on a farm east of Dannevirke
BW Summer Festival - 2004–2015- Lead-up to Rhythm & Vines in Gisborne.
Coromandel Gold - Whitianga.
The Gatherings - 1996-2002 - Canaan Downs, Takaka Hill, near Nelson (96/97, 97/98, 98/99, G2000) and Cobb Valley, Golden Bay, near Nelson (G1 and G2).
G-TARanaki Guitar Festival - 2008-2010 - International guitar festival in New Plymouth, Taranaki.
La De Da - 2010-2013 -held at Daisybank Farm, in Martinborough.
Mountain Rock Music Festival - 1992-1996 - Farm near Pahiatua.
Nambassa - 1978, 1979, 1981 - Music and alternatives festivals in Golden Valley, north of Waihi and Waitawheta valley near Waikino.
Parachute Music Festival - 1995-2014 - contemporary Christian music attracting around 30,000 people each year to Mystery Creek, Waikato.
The Phat Festivals - Maitai Valley, near Nelson, and Inangahua. The 2007 event was called 'Phat07 Bass Camp'
Redwood music festivals - unknown - Farm/orchard at Redwood Park, West Auckland.
Strawberry Fields Music Festivals - 1993-1995 - Farm near Queenstown; farm at Te Uku near Raglan.
SummerDaze - Queenstown.
Sweetwaters Music Festival - 1980-1984, 1999 - Farm near Ngaruawahia; farm near Pukekawa. A Sweetwaters South festival was also staged in Christchurch in 1985.
Te Wairua - January 1986-89 and Gathering 1989 and Gathering 1990 (not connected to the Canaan Downs Gatherings); New Age festivals held on a farm east of Owhango on the bank of the Whakapapa river. No mainstage, but a marquee and permanent building as HQ. Intensive, day-long Native American style sweat lodges were a feature of these festivals. Te Wairua is Māori for "The Spirit".
Visionz music festival, pakawau Billy King creek, Robinsons farm, golden bay 2000-04
Concert for the Deaf - unknown - Sports (rugby) stadium in Hamilton
The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival - 6–8 January 1973 - Farm at Ngaruawahia, 19 kilometres north-west of Hamilton, on the Waikato River.
Hinuera Music Festival - Farm at Hinuera, near Matamata.
The Moos - 2001 - Check-Point Charlie - Farm (sheep station) near Rimutaka Forest park.
Parihaka International Peace Festival - Parihaka - Taranaki.
Toots & Grooves - 25–27 January 2008 - Wellington's Ska festival over 2 days.
Waikino music festival - January 1977 - Farm at Waitawheta near Waikino, between Waihi and Karangahake Gorge. Pre-event run by Nambassa.
Zombies' Jamboree - c1987 acoustic music festival at Muhunoa, east of Ohau, Horowhenua
The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival - Corben Simpson removed all his clothes on stage and was reported nationwide in the media, Black Sabbath burned a cross on the hill while getting the entire audience to light a match or lighter. "Todd (Hunter) ... gathered some friends and fellow performers for an appearance at the Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival. They wrote original songs for their set list, and someone pulled the name "Dragon" out of an I Ching book. Their performance at the Ngaruawahia Music Festival led to a better gig, a few weeks performing at the Occidental Hotel in Auckland."
Sweetwaters Music Festival - On closing night with jam packed traffic, A man had a serious seizure, a doctor was called via helicopter, the police boat transferred the man across the Waipa river to a waiting ambulance, bound for Waikato hospital. On opening night a girl broke both ankles while riding the bonnet of a car into the farm.
Hinuera - Mother Goose.
Hinuera - Ragnarok The main stage stopped due to rain, a rapid system was put together in the Barn for Ragnarok, using Greg Peacocks Cerwin-Vega composite bins, previously used as cross stage side fill monitors, on the main stage.
Keighley, Daniel. Sweetwaters: The Untold Story. Reviewed by Simon Sweetman: "Daniel Keighley was the man behind the financial disaster that was Sweetwaters ’99. He was charged with fraud and jailed and Sweetwaters: The Untold Story is his account of what went wrong. Billed as an autobiography."[1]
Nambassa: A New Direction, edited by Colin Broadley and Judith Jones, A. H. & A. W. Reed, 1979.
Dix, J. (1988) Stranded in paradise: New Zealand rock'n'roll 1955-1988. Wellington: Paradise Publications. ISBN 0-473-00639-1.
